Residing Darkness
by funbunny99
Summary: I can't remember when it all began. Perhaps it was when my mother told me the truth about who I really was. Or when I saw my father for the first time. Or when I finally gave in, and felt all that glorious power at my fingertips. But now I've lost control, and the demons of the night ravage the world. And the only way to save it? I pick a mate.
1. Father?

**This takes place during the Tenroujima Island Arc. Natsu is just meeting Zeref. This is my first fic, so be gentle, please. I don't own Fairy Tail…yet (evil planning cackle).**

**Lucy's POV**

_Tweeeee, chir-rup, chir-rup!_

Nervous as I was with all the crazy monsters roaming the place, the tweedling and chirruping birds were driving me crazy. I glared at a bird as it fluttered low above my head. Suddenly, _it_ was stirring, drawing my attention to something across the island. _It_ had been restless ever since I had stepped foot on this island.

_Tweeeee, ch-!_

My head snapped back to the bird as a choking silence descended. It's nowhere in sight. Abruptly, _it_ rose, taking all my will power to suppress it and choke out, "Yeah, I noticed it, too, Cana." The look on her face has worry, some for me but most reserved for the oppressive silence. Something's happening. For some reason, I thought of Natsu with relief, and then sadness and regret. Another wave of _it_ swelled up, much more intensely than before. _It_ made me want to hurt something so badly. Just as she turned away, one hand ready to draw out a card, the forest came back to life. Both of us relax visibly.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

"When Zeref becomes the king of this world," Caprico said calmly, "the ultimate magic world will be complete."

_No…_, I whispered silently, too shocked to voice it. _That's impossible! He's dead! Has to be! I – I refuse to believe it!_ Yet for all my thoughts, I'd accepted his words. _That_ part of my magic, hummed satisfactorily through my veins. How could it be _happy_? But of course I knew; black magic was the most twisted and evil magic ever. Of course it'd be sentient and sadistic enough to celebrate its creator's return. So I pushed it down, and prepared my whip, ready to give my all to defeat Grimoire Heart.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

I ran after Natsu, Wendy, Lily, Happy, and Charle, Lisanna's parting words in mind.

"_Lucy, wait a second. Make sure you always stay close to Natsu. When the comrades he trusts are near him, Natsu gets even stronger."_

That really was true. I wondered whether Natsu himself knew it. It was weird, though. I felt like I was just a lacrima magic-booster crystal.

"Lucy is really slow!" Happy called out.

"Shut up, stupid cat! I was thinking!" I yelled. I gave him my best death glare, and then started running at an inhuman speed. "Just wait till I catch you!" But of course, my black magic acted up. I stopped unsteadily, leaning one hand against a tree, the other on my knee as the ground rolled, spots fading in and out of my vision. I felt like throwing up. This hadn't ever happened before, a magic attack of this magnitude. I took a deep, shuddery breath and closed my eyes.

An image of a black dragon shimmered as though floating before me. Blue designs swirled through its scales. _Acnologia,_ whispered a voice. It wasn't mine, nor had I heard it before. Yet it was as familiar to me as the voice of my mother. The magic pulsed once more in a mind-pounding wave, then finally dissipated. I gritted my teeth, collapsing to all fours. I returned to the real world to feel a small hand supporting my shoulder, and a worried voice calling my name.

"-cy-san! Lucy-san, can you hear me?"

I sat up slowly, "Wendy?"

"Lucy-san, what happened?"

"Hey, Luce, you all right?"

"Did someone attack you?"

I looked around at the faces of my nakama, full of worry and concern for me. "Natsu? I'm not sure what happened…"

"You were chasing Happy, remember? Then you were holding onto the tree and collapsing. Wendy checked, and she said that your injuries were fine. Were you attacked by some weird magic?" explained Charle matter-of-factly.

Bitterness lifted the corners of my mouth slightly. They really had no idea how close they were. "No, I'm fine. Let's hurry up and avenge Master." As I had intended, Natsu immediately rushed off again. Wendy was less impetuous, "Are you sure?"

I smiled reassuringly, "Yeah, I'm sure. It was probably just a one-time thing, anyway." If only it was.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

I was laughing with Cana as Gildarts teased Laxus, when it rose again. I wandered off quietly. I didn't want anyone noticing this. I could tell it would be strong, yet I didn't feel like hacking up everything I'd eaten. Instead it was focused. I could stand and pretend I was daydreaming. I closed my eyes. The vision came easily this time. A ray of energy pierced Grimoire Heart's airship.

"Lucy, come to the magical springs with me?" Cana asked.

I couldn't push it down, not this time. I had to control it. "Yeah, sure!" I cheerfully said. The blackness spread through my body, tingling at my fingertips and leaving sparks in my hair. Strangely, it almost felt _good_.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

I smiled joyfully at the sky as Gildarts promised to make sure Cana was never sad again. But it was tinged with sadness for my father, and fear as I felt Acnologia ever closer.

"This feeling…," said Gildarts softly his head alert. Natsu, too, was alert. So they had finally noticed.

"We should return to the guild, "he said, dragging Cana behind him as we began sprinting down the path. We came in sight of the rest of the guild in time for a feral hybrid of a screech and a roar to ring in our ears. I recognized it instantly, and ask, "Is everyone okay?"

Gray turned to see us, "You guys!"

Gildarts shouted, "He must be from back then…!" I glanced at him for a second—he knows it too?—before distracted by Panther Lily's cry, "Over there!"

The black dragon, Acnologia, soared above all.

"What is that?"

"It's huge!"

"That is a…"

"Dragon…?"

I also pretended, because I cannot give the visions away yet, when I can't explain it myself, "What the heck is that…"

"Is that for real…?"Gajeel asked wonderingly.

"A real-life dragon…" Wendy whispered in a hushed voice, tremors shaking her thin body.

"I knew it…" Natsu said firmly, "Dragons really do exist."

Master Makarov stepped forward, "The Black Dragon of the Apocalypse. Acnologia." Natsu yells a ridiculous question at Acnologia, but I ignore him. The controlled tingling is giving way to an exhilarated feeling. I can feel it changing, improving me. I must suppress it or they will notice.

Acnologia surged down, and no one watched me as dust and rocks flew. Another roar spread like a shockwave as everyone stood, stunned while Acnologia flew up and attacked. A devastating attack scattered Gray, Juvia, and Natsu like flies. He roars and the ruins of our camp are decimated, sowing panic amongst my guild. I know I could probably take Acnologia head-on. The power I have hidden is strong, far stronger than Natsu's or Erza's. I needed to protect my nakama. But still, I hesitated. It had been so deeply ingrained into me: don't ever, ever reveal your magic to anybody, even if it's your true love. And, then, like the coward I was, I ran with others.

I couldn't escape the flow of magic though. When I nursed the thought of fighting Acnologia, I had prepared my magic—my _black_ magic. It pulsed. My senses were sharpened. My eyes changed. I can see every minute detail, every thread on Levy's shirt, every hair of Evergreen's, every speck of dust Acnologia churns up. I can hear that familiar, slightly comforting voice, _"In spite of that, the reason it doesn't use words…is because it doesn't think of humans as anything more than insects. You wouldn't stop and talk to a pest buzzing around you. It's the same for the dragon. You also wouldn't bother taking an obnoxious insect seriously for even a moment. There are things in this world you cannot oppose or fight back against, no matter how hard you try."_

"ROOOOAAAAAAAAAAARRRR!"

"Oomph!"

I was brought back to reality, the voice now a soothing background.

_Whooooooosh!_

"_learn this shortly. It appears… we will be embark-"_

_Crunch, splat!_ Natsu groaned as the breath whooshed out of him, "Dah! Gah! Fgaah! Youuuuu…!"

"_to its end. Farewell, Natsu."_

"Run. Get to the ship," Master commanded, becoming a giant and tackling the dragon.

Shame coursed through me, hot and heavy, that he could stand and do something I had no courage to.

Protestations immediately rang out, of course.

"It's useless! There's no way he can fight that!"

"Master! Stop it, please!"

"If you're going to pick a fight with it, we're coming too."

"Let's smash that thing to pieces!"

Makarov roared, "DO YOU PLAN ON EVEN DISOBEYING YOUR MASTER'S FINAL ORDERS! **YOU SHITTY BRATS!**"

Natsu disagreed instantly. "I'm a dragon slayer! If anyone's gonna be that thing's opponent, it's gonna be…UGAAH!"

"We are getting out of here, Natsu!" said Laxus firmly. Slowly, sadly, we all turned and ran, tears spilling over and coursing down our faces. I squeezed my eyes shut, wishing I could block out the roars and shouts behind us. None of us wanted to run away. So of course, we turned around, racing to help our Master.

Natsu reached Acnologia first, "Give our old man back!"

And then the rest of us pound forth at Erza's, "CHAAAARGE!"

Fire, iron, swords, ice arrows, demon claws, air, cards, little wooden dolls, and my whip all bombarded Acnologia furiously. But none of them worked. He took off, soaring high into the sky. I had a hunch of what he might do, because he couldn't possibly be running away, though I still hoped.

"It's a breath attack!"

I knew it! Damn! As we scrambled to put up a defensive, I gathered my magic, black and white. I shouted, "Okay! We'll never give up!" I didn't care anymore. I squeezed my eyes shut and collected all my magic. In that moment before I sent it on in the circle, I saw a man standing on the edge of Grimoire Heart's limping airship, and I knew why that voice sounded so familiar.

Zeref was my father.

**Wow! That took a shorter time than I expected! More will be explained in the next chapter. Constructive criticism highly appreciated, reviews liked, and flames are snacks for Natsu!**

**Natsu: Yay! Please flame the story!**

**Lucy: *Bonk* Don't be rude! What he means to say is: Please put him on a diet!**

**Happy: Aye!**

**I just reloaded it for the chapter title. And then I figured out I didn't need to.**


	2. Promise Me

**You guys are absolutely awesome! I never expected to get any reviews, but I got three! Thank you, Guest, Darkinght, and BlackSakura-chi! For clarification, the rest of the story will always be mainly First Person: Lucy, and small side bits of Third Person: other people. Also, there are footnotes at the end explaining my point-of-view that really wouldn't be able to be worked into the story.**

I hadn't heard anything for a while. _What happened?_ I wondered. _Should I open my eyes? Or are we all dead?_ I decided to risk it. I warily opened my eyes a crack, then wide open, stunned by the glaring whiteness of wherever I was. Instinctively, I blink rapidly. But it's no longer white. My mouth dried. _Now I _have _to be dead._

"Mom?" I whispered.

"Lucy. Listen closely to what I'm going to say, ok?" said Mom, clasping my hand and looking into my eyes.

_Wait._ I looked around, at the bedframe I sat on the corner of, the rose-hued curtains almost closed, with the one tassel that wouldn't hang straight, and the blue-black carpet with the familiar and distinct pattern of stars peeking through from a bower of sweet peas and morning glory, to my mother, not frail and painfully skinny as she was just before she died, but vibrant and flushed, with only the slightest sheen of sweat to give away her condition. _I'm not dead! I'm just dreaming!_

"This is very important, Lucy. You have to pay attention." Mom gently grasped my chin and turned it towards her. "You can't tell the servants. You can't tell anyone, ever."

I gasped, a soft child's gasp. _Oh, of course, I'm a little girl, again._ I protested, "But you said that I should always tell my true love _everything_. That's how I'd be able to tell if they really, truly loved me." My lips trembled as my memory realized this was very, very important, even as my current self tried to memorize the unnaturally precise memory of my healthy mother.

"No, sweetie, _nobody_. "

"Not even Daddy?"

"Your father already knows."

I smiled, glad that she didn't _really _mean nobody. "Then that's ok, right?"

"No. Don't ever, ever, _ever_ tell anyone. Promise me, Lucy, that you will hide what I tell you, _no matter what_. Promise me!" Her hands gripped mine tightly. Now I tugged at them, and Mom let go, aware of her tight hold. I held on to one hand, and curled my tiny pinky around her slender one.

"I promise," I said solemnly, with the determination only a child can have. "But why? And why can't I tell Daddy? He already knows." I pouted.

"Because Daddy is not your father," Mom said, silencing my response with one finger on my mouth, "Listen."

**Flashback: Third Person (A/N: Because of the inconsistency involving Lucy's age, some saying she's 18, some 17, I'm letting this be early May of X765, the year before she's born, because she's a summer birthday. See footnote.)**

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

Layla Heartfilia rested one arm on the windowsill. Her light green summer dress showed a slight bulge over her stomach and complemented her figure nicely, bringing out the gold in her hair, and hung over the edge of the window seat, her feet tucked neatly underneath her. The end of a light brown fine woolen shawl draped over shoulders, one hand fingered the delicate beadwork subconsciously. Her gaze was fixed on what could be seen of a stately carriage through the foliage of a row of perfectly trimmed ash saplings lining the gravel driveway.

Inside the carriage, Jude Heartfilia clasped his hands together on his knees, careful to keep from wrinkling his impeccable suit. A briefcase the same dove-gray as his suit lay on the plush red seat. He was headed to Takrenope (**A/N: That's tah-CREE-noh-peh)** a small island nation without magic far to the northeast of Fiore. Without magic, it had developed uniquely from the rest of the world, with prized relics and cultural designs found nowhere else. There, he would live at the king's court, traveling several-day journeys to the plantations of rich farmers. He would examine the foreign goods, price them, show off what he had to sell on the magic hologragher, and negotiate trading contracts. The process could take months.

She exhaled quietly. Layla was restless, uncomfortable. She knew how much this could benefit the Heartfilia business. But when he might not be there for their first child…no, she would not think like that. He would, he had given his word that he would be home.

Layla got up. Perhaps a ride on Istahar would satisfy her. Layla added a forest green riding habit over a cream vest fitted over the bodice of her dress. Stepping out to the hallway, she was immediately accosted.

"Oh, Layla-sama, you should've let me help you!" Supetto called out. She rushed over and began fussing with Layla's dress.

"Thank you, but really, I'm fine," reassured Layla.

Supetto then took in the meaning of the clothes, saying, "Layla-sama! Surely you would not be riding! In your condition! Heartfilia-sama asked you to take special care in your condition, after all."

"Oh, but the doctor said I'd be fine. It's only the second month. Besides, I'll be riding sidesaddle. Please, Supetto, I've hardly been able to do anything with Jude fussing over me all the time," pleaded Layla.

"Well, the least I can do is escort down to the stables," grumbled Supetto, giving in.

"Thank you, Supetto. You really are wonderful." Layla beamed.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

Layla laughed as the wind rippled through her hair, teasing out strands from her formal bun. She raced Istahar across the estate, slowing as she reached the woods. Layla navigated amongst the trees at a slow walk rather than on the path. This forest was her favorite place; she had spent many happy hours here with Jude before conceiving.

As Istahar wandered deeper into the forest, Layla noticed a dead tree, otherwise healthy, in the distance. She guided the dark gray appaloosa mare towards it, and saw a tiny clearing of withered flora. Layla gasped quietly.

"What sort of magic is this?" she asked herself. A rustle, then the quick succession of snapping branches alerted her to a fleeing figure, claimed by the shadows of the forest.

"Come back, please," Layla called, nudging Istahar into a swift, though reluctant, trot. But nothing answered her save for the song of a thrush. She wandered the forest slowly, hoping to catch the stranger unawares. Sometime later, she had only found one other dead clearing. Not a glimpse was to be had of the mystery man.

Layla headed out of the forest and was surprised to see the sun slipping over the edge of the mountains. Luckily, she didn't come out of the other end of the forest, on the foothills of the mountains. A short gallop, and she was home again, surrounded by worrying and bustling servants.

"Layla-sama, we were so worried!"

"You must be tired, Layla-sama. Come inside and rest. Uma will take care of Istahar."

"Are you cold, Layla-sama? I have your shawl here."

Layla strangely accepted all their help without complaint. Her mind was locked on the fleeing stranger. Even though it had been dark, Layla was certain he had had black hair. And she was just as certain that it was a he.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

It had been a month since, and still Layla had only seen glimpses. She would be riding, and come across another grayed out circle, wander a bit, something would make her look up, and there he was. Only, she wasn't sure if last time counted. For a millisecond, he had looked at her. His eyes had been the same raven-black as his hair, a different black from the rest of the shadows, standing out from his hidden face.

Now, however, she would be certain to talk to him. Layla had made a plan. At first, all the servants had protested against it, but she argued that she would have Capricorn and Cancer, as well as possibly Aquarius, and she was so bored without Jude to attend social events with. Then they had pleaded to let them help. Layla remained firm and refused. She told herself it was because she wouldn't want the stranger to be troubled should one of the servants inform Jude, and quickly began thinking of something else.

Layla's plan was that she would stay in the tiny hunter's cabin hidden in the deepest recesses of the forest. Layla had a feeling Istahar's unwillingness to follow the man. She wanted to gain the stranger's trust, and perhaps she could talk. It would be nice to have someone to talk to. All the servants and her spirits were respectful and reserved, except sassy Aquarius, who preferred to stay in the Celestial Plane with Scorpio.

The cabin was well stocked, with all modern necessities, though hardly used, so Layla would bring only several changes of simple clothes. Excited, Layla was quick to leave in the morning following the concocting of her plan.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

_Yes. I know he will come, and I can follow him better through this dense forest, without Istahar fighting me every step of the way._ Layla waited in one of the multiple dead clearings. She leaned against a withered rowan, closed her eyes, and enjoyed the sunlight. This deep into the forest, the dead patches were actually common. Istahar waited quietly for her master's return just in sight, tethered to an ash sapling.

Layla looked up from her musings. She no longer needed the telltale slipup to recognize his presence. Straight across the clearing, he stood, his head bowed. Layla's mouth curled up into a small smile after opening in shock.

He had stood out from the shadows, letting the sunlight fall on his dark robes, the white sash, and his pale skin.

"Please," he said before Layla could introduce herself. "Please go away. I don't want to hurt you, so please leave me alone."

Layla stood up immediately, and crossed the clearing while she said, "I'm very sorry if I—,"

"No! Stay back!" The man looked at her with terror-filled eyes, then turned around and ran.

"I can help!" Layla shouted, scrambling after him. "I can pay for medical mages to help you!"

"No! You can't! Stop it! Please! You can't help!" Suddenly the man stopped, clutching his head with one hand. He groaned and collapsed against a gigantic redwood. "You have to GO AWAY!"

Layla continued ignoring him and knelt next to him, just in time for a black wave of magic to erupt from the man. He gasped, "No…not again…" but it was too late.

**Footnotes:**

**X765- So I took off seven years from X791, that's X784, and then another 18 years gone for Lucy's age, then one year before because 9 months before June 1****st**** (that's her birthday) plus 3-4 months for a relationship to develop. After all, neither Layla nor Zeref are the desperate type. I know that Layla fell sick and gave her keys away in X764, but for the sake of fanfiction, I have used the Arc of Time and led the characters to a different future. So now this has turned into an AU.**

**Takrenope- I just made that up. I know there are names of at least three other countries mentioned in the manga, but it just fits my purpose well, an island nation without magic. Might be mentioned in later chapters.**

**Istahar- That is name of the Star Maiden in… I'm not sure what to call it but Jewish mythology? Legend? I read it here. ****curious jew . blog spot 2009 / 03 / star-maiden . html **Wild Rhov's fanfics got me interested in researching names and places for my fics. She's really fanatic about it.

**Layla's riding clothes- I looked up 18th century riding habits; I think Fairy Tail formal clothing is closer to this time, with technology and casual clothing closer to 20th and 21ist centuries, respectively. I found an image that I copied, changing the blues to green. ****rum-inspector . deviantart art / 18th-Century-Riding-Habit-197114212** Of course, Layla's dress doesn't have such wide hips. 

**Supetto- The old lady sweeping the path when Lucy returns to tell her dad to stay from Fairy Tail. She doesn't have a last name; I looked on Fairy Tail Wiki.**

**Dark gray appaloosa- An image of what it looks like: ****www . horse man magazine 2008 / 08 / top-5-horse-breeds-for-trail-riding /** I had originally chosen it for the star-like spots, but as I read the post saying how they were normally calm and trusted their owners, I realized that makes Istahar unwilling to follow Zeref more important.

**Uma- This means "horse" in Japanese, which would be fitting for the stable master. I suppose it's not very original if you can read Japanese.**

**So I was going to put the Layla x Zeref Arc in one chapter, but you guys probably prefer me updating sooner, and it's going to end up almost like its own oneshot. I got carried away… I never intended to actually hit 4k words by the second chapter! If there are questions, PM me or review; they make me happy! I'll answer as soon as I can, but I won't give away spoilers ;) ! **

**Gray: *ROFL* I can't believe Natsu said "Yay!" Ahahaha!**

**Natsu: Shut up, stripper! The Bunni-author possessed me!**

**Erza: Aye!**

**Everyone within hearing range: O . O …**

**P.S. Now that I'm officially a teenager, review as a birthday present?**


	3. A Secret Made and Kept

**Yup, this has been upped to T. As for updating…I really have no excuse. I put off writing this, because I was entranced by Kiki's Delivery Service. I love Hayao Miyazaki's movies. I know this Layla-Zeref bit is boring, but I promise you'll get to see some of what dark-Lucy can do in the next chapter, which, unfortunately, won't be up this weekend due to an absolutely EVIL debate tournament. I hate public speaking… . **

Just as quickly as the wave of black magic shot out, it was retracted in horror. "I did it again…," whispered Zeref. His pupils returned to normal as he stared at the limp body of lovely Mrs. Heartfilia facedown on the ground. Carefully, gently, he turned her over—and froze as her eyes fluttered open.

"W-what? Y-you –you're not dead?" stammered Zeref jerkily.

She sat up, leaning against Zeref. "Is that your magic, then? To kill?"

Zeref flinched, hearing it so bluntly from such a gentle lady, "I don't mean to! But I can't help it… For so long now, I've wished to die. I don't want to kill anything even plants"—here he gestured toward the distant withered trees—"or miniscule insects. I've learned the value of life. But now, well, you survived…"

Her eyes sparkled with triumph, "See, I told you I could help. Now we can reintroduce ourselves properly. My name is Layla Heartfilia. I am a 17 year-old celestial mage and married to Jude Heartfilia." She reached out a hand.

"There is another reason why I wanted you to stay away. I am the black mage Zeref who decimated the world over four hundred years ago," Zeref said in monotone.

"But you said yourself that you've learned the value of life. I believe that people can change. You've had four hundred years to learn to love. After all, I believe love is the eternal magic."

Zeref's eyes widened. He said quietly, "Yes… I think so, too."

"Oh, I'm living out here for a week. You can come see the cabin, come on! I bet you can't be too comfortable out here. And, and! Later, I can show you my spirits. Aquarius is pretty snarky, though. You have to tell me more about yourself, too!" chattered Layla excitedly, pulling Zeref behind her. He couldn't help but smile for the first time in centuries as the pretty and energetic teenager went on about her life.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

A couple days later he noticed Layla's frowning. Still hesitant and shy in someone else's cabin, he kept quiet. Layla had introduced Aquarius (who drenched him for causing her to be summoned in the bathtub), Cancer (who almost gave him a bowl-cut), Capricorn (who gave Zeref very strict warnings about harming Layla), and Istahar (who nearly crushed him with her hooves, while he ran to keep from accidently killing her).

Zeref had told Layla what he knew about his Death Magic and Living Magic. Supposedly the curse he had kept him from fully controlling his Death Magic, now that he knew the weight of a life. But somehow, around vibrant, optimistic Layla he didn't have to forget about life. Instead, he could forget he had Death Magic, and feeling he had after he killed something again. Except she was no longer vibrant.

Zeref had asked; Layla had smiled and easily waved it off, and for a few moments, he was convinced. But then she'd look away, and Zeref knew that pained grimace would settle in, from the few times he had caught her. Zeref thought it was him—after the novelty and risk wore off, who would want to stay close to the most powerful and dangerous mage in the world?—but he remembered the genuine smiles, and worried.

Finally, Layla had passed it off as homesickness. "I'll be home this afternoon anyway. You can stay here; no one ever uses it. I'll be back in a few days, and you'll see I'm fine," she said, smiling.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

True to her word, Layla was back in a couple days, tears staining her cheeks. "I miscarried," she blurted out as soon as she got off Istahar. Layla buried her face in Zeref's shoulder. Awkwardly, he wrapped his arms around her thin, shaking, body. Her voice was muffled as she said, "I-I sent a letter to Jude, b-but it will be at least two months before his reply. It must have been my fault. All the servants warned me not to ride so much."

"No!" said Zeref sharply, "Don't blame yourself. Of course it was my fault. No, don't say it wasn't. My magic didn't kill you that day, but it did kill your child. I'm sorry. I am just as much a burden to you with my Death Magic uncontrolled as with control over it."

"Zeref…," croaked Layla, looking up at him take the blame. The corners of her lips curled up, and then bloomed into a tremulous smile, "Thank you for everything. You might have been the Killing Mage, but to me, you're my best friend."

Zeref couldn't say a word. _Friend._ The word echoed in his mind. This had to be the best moment of his life, but he couldn't stop the disappointment that laced his, "You're very welcome, Layla," even as he held her tighter.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

It was September 1st and autumn had officially arrived. The two of them had spent the rest of summer doing almost everything together. Except for the weekly trips to the main house for food and clothing, Layla and Zeref had spent every waking moment together. They had taken walks through the forest, deciphered the clouds for pictures, found the symbols of the celestial spirits in the night-sky, nursed a sparrow back to health, and suffered Zeref's terrible cooking for a day. In fact, if Layla wasn't already married, Zeref would've sworn they were dating.

Zeref sat patiently against the wall of the house. Earlier, a servant had rushed over, Zeref quickly ducking inside, shouting for "Layla-sama, Layla-sama, oh, there you are, there's a very important messenger from Heartfilia-sama!" Zeref felt something bitter curl up in his stomach at the way her face lit up with joy, and chalked up to his magic acting up. Of course, it conveniently only acted up when Mr. Heartfilia was mentioned, and had absolutely nothing to do with, or was in any related to jealousy. Absolutely nothing.

"Zeref!" called Layla gleefully, "Jude wrote me back! Come on, we'll read it together!"

Zeref was sure that there would never be anybody like Layla, treating him so flippantly, and easily inviting him to read something so personal.

Layla curled next Zeref; he was hyperaware of the warmth of her body pressed against his, the slender, delicate fingers slitting open the envelope, the sunlight burnt gold on the tendrils of hair Layla let escape.

_My Dear Layla,_

_I am truly disappointed in the loss of our unborn child. I hope you are not suffering too badly. The doctor reports that you have been riding out for days, weeks even. You ought to have been more careful, you know how frail you were as a child._

_It is unfortunate, but, as always, there will be some good out of this. I shall be able to remain here longer and negotiate to Heartfilia Concern's best interests. You may expect be to return next year. Perhaps then we might try again, if the doctor would believe you well enough._

_Best of wishes,_

_Jude Heartfilia_

Zeref growled at the callous and offhand treatment Jude handed his wife. Layla sniffled; a tear plopped onto the letter. She looked up at him; her chocolate eyes dark and bright, tears welled over and rolled down her cheeks. All Zeref wanted was for Layla to stop crying, because, really, it was obvious his Death Magic was at fault. So he leaned over and ever so gently brushed her tears away with his lips.

Immediately, Zeref felt how Layla stiffened. He pulled back. "That's not something a friend would do," whispered Layla hoarsely, her eyes wide and searching.

"No. I'm sorry for overstepping boundaries, but, maybe, I-I don't want to be friends," replied Zeref, barely saying the last part.

Layla flushed deeply, and Zeref noticed just how much more attractive it made her. "It's getting late; we should go in." She stood up and walked in.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

Zeref lay in the dark and thought of the kiss. He wanted to kiss her rosebud lips, her gold-silk hair, her neck. Everything about Layla entranced him.

_Pat. Tat. Pat. Creeaaak._ "Zeref." He flipped over and gazed at the ethereal, white beauty in his doorway. Zeref sat up.

Layla stepped closer, and sat next to him. The moonlight and white nightgown silvered her features, glowing pearlescent in the night. Her voice was hushed, "Maybe I don't want to be friends either." His heart leapt, and he leaned forward to place his lips on hers. She kissed back, deepening kiss while entwining her fingers in his hair. They broke apart, panting.

"Are you sure about this, Layla?"

"Yes. I want to forget about Jude and his stupid letter. Tonight, just you and me. I love you, Zeref."

He kissed her again and again, harder, rougher, each time more heated than the last. She responded eagerly, and they continued through the night, with only the moon as their witness.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

_Oh, c***._ "Um, Zeref? I kind of used a pregnancy lacrima, and, um, well you can see for yourself."

_Congratulations! It's a girl!_

"Well! On the bright side, I'm going to be a father!" _Of an illegitimate child_, Zeref added in his head.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

"Zeref! Put your hand there, no, here! Can you feel it? She's kicking!"

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

"Zeref, what should we name her?"

"What did you intend to name the first one?"

"Lucy. It was actually a silly inspiration. The merchant's guild where Jude and I used to work was named Love & Lucky, but when we left, the "K" had fallen off; therefore, Lucy."

"No. It's sweet. We should name her Lucy, and someday, you'll tell her about her sister Lucy."

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

"Jude's going to be home soon, you know. The servants aren't asking questions about the father, but it's pretty obvious since I spend so much time here. Not that they know about you."

"Layla, I think it's obvious. I'll have to leave. It will be best for you and Lucy. Jude should be kinder to you then."

"I know. That's why we have to enjoy the rest of this time together, right?"

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

_I see Jude's carriage coming. __I don't think_ **(A/N: Pretend the underline is moved up a few millimeters to be a strikethrough.) **_It would be best if he never saw me. Say that I seduced you, magicked you to fall in love. Anything for you and Lucy. Happy Birthday, Lucy, and happy anniversary of our first conversation, darling. I love you, Layla._

_-Zeref_

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

"So that's the story, Lucy. I always kept that last note of his. See?" My mother opened her gold locket and removed the picture of me. Behind it was a tiny, folded square of paper.

"I promised him that when the time was right, I'd tell you, and no one else. You have a special magic inside you that comes from him. You can't show it to people, or use. Promise me again, Lucy, never, ever tell anyone who your real father is, or reveal your magic."

"I promise never, ever to tell anyone who my real father is, or reveal my magic. Do you think, Mom, I might meet him someday, and he'll tell me his name? Would he like me?"

"Maybe someday, sweetie. He loves you very much."

I blinked, and my dream disappeared. "Ugh," I groaned. I pushed myself up on my hands.

"Back then…I took the strength of everyone's bonds and faith, and converted all of it into magical power. All of your thoughts allowed one of the three great fairy magics, 'Fairy Sphere' to be activated. It is a magic that will protect the guild from any evil, an absolute defense magic. However, everybody was sealed in a frozen state…though it has been released, a span of seven years has passed."

_Eeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?! Seven years! That's way too long! So now where's my father gone?_ **(A/N: Oh, look, it rhymes!)**

"Oh, by the way Lucy," said Gray, "I noticed your magic is pretty strong. I didn't know celestial spirit mages had that much magic!"

"Wha-really, Lucy? Hey, you should fight me!"

_I promise to never, ever tell anybody who my real father is, or reveal my magic._ Now would be a perfect chance to tell my nakama. But I promised.

"Don't be silly, Natsu! Do I look like I want to be beaten to a pulp?! And, Gray, I told you it takes a lot of magic to open up a portal to another dimension."

_I kept your promise, Mom._

**Thanks to stealthenator for reviewing! **


	4. Unsealed

_Grand Magic Tournament, Day 4. Battle part. Naval battle. 1 participant per team. The person who leaves the sphere of water will lose. The remaining person will be the victor. In the event that there are two participants remaining in the sphere, a special rule will be added. The 5 minute rule. If within 5 minutes one of the two leaves the sphere, that person will receive the least points._

_Awesome_, I thought. _Aquarius will give me a good advantage. Juvia's strong on this one, though, and I don't know what the Sabertooth girl can do. Now that Raven Tail's gone, I can show everyone the true power of Urano Metria. Plus, if necessary…no, in the end, these are only games._

"I'm going to give it my all!" said Shelia.

"I'm not going to lose this time!" Jenny shouted.

"Never underestimate a mermaid!" chimed in Mermaid Heel's Risley.

"If it's water, then it's Juvia! This is Juvia's expertise," added Juvia.

"Haha. Sabertooth's Minerva… has arrived." Cheers erupted throughout the stadium.

"I can't lose either. I have to make up for the first day's shame!" I said. Far off was the sound of my team cheering me on. I wouldn't fail them again.

"The rules are simple! If you leave the water, you lose! Naval battle commence! _BONG!_"

Immediately I attacked. "Right off the bat but…sorry everyone! Open! Gate of Aquarius! Aquarius!"

"Aghhhh! The water is my playground!" she screamed.

"I won't let you! Water Cyclone!" yelled Juvia in return.

"Juvia!" I shouted, surprised.

"Searing love!"

"What is this…!?"

"We're even!?" said Aquarius, shocked.

"This is the perfect time to… The single one out!" Jenny slammed into Quatro Puppy's Rocker feet first, effectively dropping him out of the battle.

Shelia swirled air towards Risley, but, "Never underestimate a chubby!" she shouted while dodging.

Meanwhile, "This isn't going to end well, so I'm going to return now," said Aquarius.

"Eh!? Why!? You're the best in the water, I have to depend on you!"

"I have a date. " she replied, and whooshed back to the celestial realm, leaving me open for Juvia's water.

Frantically, waving my arms, I screamed, "Virgo! Aries!" They came just in time, "Sexy Guard! Princess!" and, "I'm sorry if it's too fluffy~"

"Wahh~ That was close!" I yelped.

"I throw them all out at once! There is nobody who can win against Juvia in the water! The unleashing of second origin is a unique spell I acquired… Go forward! Wings of love! Gray-sama love!" Juvia attacked with a huge swirl of water, hearts lining the edges.

"Quit it!" yelled Gray.

Jenny, Risley, and Shelia were thrown out, coughing. Minerva calmly deflected the water with her magic. Virgo and Aries hung onto me desperately, shouting, "Princess! Hang on! Fluffy guard is at max power!"

Juvia glanced at Gray, and her face dropped, the disappoint matching Gray's disgust. Stunned, Juvia realized she was suddenly out of the water, "Eh?"

"Juvia!" I shouted. Even if she was on another team, she was still a Fairy Tail member.

"That idiot," grumbled Gajeel.

"She fell out," gasped Cana.

"Why?" asked Mirajane.

Laxus was speechless, "….!?"

"Ouchieee!" Juvia yelped, smacking the ground hard with her face.

"What a pity! After all that effort, she's out! Even still, she's rank 3! That's 6 points!" announced Lola.

"Huhu," smirked Minerva.

"The only two left are Minerva and Lucy! Now…who will be the victor? Sabertooth? Or Fairy Tail? We have applied the 5-minute rule. During these 5 minutes, if one of the two falls out of the water, they will gain the least amount of points from this event."

Minerva said, "With my magical power, I could throw you out of the water in a flash. However… that wouldn't be very satisfying… Let's see how long you last. Fairy Tail."

A glowing oblong shape bulged from her hand and glided towards me.

"What's this…kyaaaa!" I screamed. It burned! Another pulse hurled itself into my back. "It felt so heavy. Like lead…I keep getting hit everywhere," I murmured. I reached for my keys and gasped, "What!? My keys are…"—Minerva held them up triumphantly—"When did she!? Kyaaaaaaaa!" A larger glow-thing shoved me roughly backwards. I was going to fall out! No, I couldn't! I waved my arms and stopped on the edge.

Pulse after pulse slammed into me, but I gritted my teeth. "I'll show her I can take any of her attacks!" There was one minute left. "If I lose here, I won't be able to face everyone who tried so hard! I won't betray everyone's emotions! That's why I'll never give up!"

Minerva stopped. 30 seconds remained. Maybe I had gotten through to her, and she'd wait for the timer to stop! Wrong. I was completely wrong. I saw the look of glee on her face as she sent forward the largest pulse yet.

"Ahhhhh!" My entire body was being crushed. I could barely tell Minerva was shouting at me. I was going to die, I was going to die, I was…not. Such strong magic had alerted my black magic. I could feel it wriggling in delight, sucking up every last drop of magic in the attack. No, I had to keep it down. I used the last of my magic to push it down, down, until I could barely feel it tingling in my toes.

Now I could notice I was falling out. I didn't care. _Keep it down, keep it down. Stay calm. No anger, no fear, no pain._ I chanted over and over in my head. Then I was no longer drifting calmly out. Minerva's knee slammed into my back, forcing out my breath and my willpower.

It hurt so badly, but I couldn't acknowledge it, it didn't hurt, it didn't hurt, I was choking on my own blood, and I could no longer move, but that didn't matter because it didn't hurt, and I heard Natsu and Gray and Erza screaming for me—why could I hear them from so far away?—and Minerva laughed, and the laugh kept ringing and ringing in my head, and I thought I could hear each tear and crunch of flesh and bone, and it was too much, too fast, I heard shouting—did the referee say to stop?—but that didn't matter because nothing existed except for the pain, and a choking pressure on my throat, and I knew I was going to die, but I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die, and everything. Just. Stopped.

It felt like the world had frozen. My eyes opened; I saw everything with perfect, pristine clarity. Just like before on Tenrou Island when my black magic was activated. I wasn't in control of body, but it knew what to do. I ripped Minerva's hand away from my throat; a feral snarl escaping that wasn't me. My hand-that-was-not-my-hand yanked her forward, one foot swung up to her chest; I heard the cracking sound of her ribs breaking. Some part of me could hear the gasps of the crowd, the voice of the announcer, the cheers from my guild, but I was here, with Minerva who had hurt me, who had insulted Fairy Tail, and who would pay for it.

My body flung Minerva's body around, aiding it with swinging kicks and jabbing punches so that she was closer to the outside than I was. I felt my fingers curling into a sign I had only seen once; I looked down and saw myself preparing one of the only dark spells I knew. Right hand, index and middle fingers up, above left hand, index and fifth finger down, facing out.

I screamed, _No, I can't kill her, I can't! Stop! Someone stop me!_ Instead my mouth said, "People like you do not know the value of life. One sin is torturing me…the other is insulting my nakama. Repentance!" There was a horrible blast of light, different from Zeref's—my father's—pillar plunging from heaven, more like a shockwave that shoved Minerva out of the water, falling unconscious to the ground.

My hearing returned to normal, shouts from Sabertooth and Fairy Tail for emergency treatment and immediate rescue to the sick bay bombarded my hearing. My magic released, the pain came crashing down, and I crumpled into a ball, glad to finally let the darkness take me.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

"Did you know she could use a spell like that, Natsu, Erza, Gray?" interrogated Master Makarov in the infirmary. It was decided that it would be safer for both injured, but luckily alive, parties if they and their guilds were stationed in wards far, far from each other. It was here that Master had called a guild meeting.

"No way! Lucy's really strong, way stronger than that Sabertooth bitch!" shouted Natsu. His temper had been slightly appeased seeing Lucy earn first place.

"No, master. I was only aware of her celestial key magic and Urano Metria," stated Erza.

"Yeah, same here. Lucy seemed to know what she was doing, though it could have been some form of mind control…" mused Gray.

"Hey, my puppet magic can't make other's use magic. It's purely physical!" returned Bixlow.

"Meredy's Sensory magic, as well, is not capable of such, and I know of no other magic that would allow it," stepped in Jellal. "However…that was magic had to have been learned directly from Zeref."

"You're not implying that—"

"Lucy would never—"

"Zeref!?"

"Quiet!" shouted Master. "Explain," he said tersely, nodding his head at Jellal.

"As I said before, I can sense dark magic, especially related to Zeref. Godslayer magic, Sensory magic, Arc of Time, Arc of Embodiment, my Heaven magic; all that is a category of Lost magic. This type was first founded by Zeref, but other people were able to learn to use them, though not to their full capabilities. There are other types of magic he invented, like the Living magic and Death magic, which were not able to be replicated by any mages since. All of these magics have a sort of signature when you sense them. The magics unique to Zeref have a darker signature, not tainted by the magic of other mages. What Lucy used was a Death spell. Luckily, whether she didn't have enough magic, or did not wish to kill Minerva, it did not have complete effect. I am absolutely sure that it was a Death spell, and would imagine that it would be best for the nature of the spell to be kept quiet," Jellal explained thoroughly.

"Thank you. We should withhold all judgment until Lucy can explain for her—"said Master.

"Ugh..." Lucy groaned.

"Lucy!" gasped Happy.

"Everyone…what happened…to Minerva?" asked Lucy, tiredness dragging down her face.

"She is alive and healing under the care of the Sabertooth's medic. She has three broken ribs and multiple bruises. She was in a coma, but woke shortly. You shouldn't worry about her; you're much worse off," snapped Porlyusica gently.

"Oh…good… Keys…my keys…" muttered Lucy.

"There they are," said Happy, quietly handing them to her.

"Thank goodness…thank you," sighed Lucy, gratefully clutching her keys to her and drifting off to sleep.

"We'll definitely wait until she's better. It seems she did not intend to kill or severely injure Minerva. **A** and **B** teams, I want to talk to you guys over here," said Master.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

"So strong, and using Death magic, too…She will be the perfect sacrifice for Zeref-sama!" cackled a dark figure.

**I realized I forgot to explain exactly why Layla was alive. So the way I see it, Death Magic is like radiation. A super strong dose like Zeref gave Zancrow would kill someone. Natsu's dragon muffler acted like a lead apron, but instead of reflecting the magic, it absorbed it. The strength of the blast depends on how much the user wants to kill the victim. Zeref didn't kill Layla because even then he already loved her. In Lucy's case, the magic is slightly diluted, and easier for her to control. **

**I know the dark figure muttering in the corner is cliché, but I couldn't find the name of that council guy…help would be appreciated! Thank you to Izzy26 for reviewing!**


	5. Set in Motion

**Sorry for not updating sooner! The first week of school was hectic; juggling choir, color guard, swimming, piano, math club, and homework leaves very little time for fanfiction. I'll most likely update on weekends. After an hour of searching, I finally found the name of that dark figure! It shows up twice. TWICE! In over 300 pages, twice! Compared to Bora from the first arc, at least three times in, what, 50 pages? Anyway, on with the story!**

I froze suddenly. Where was I? Where had those dragons come from? What if they saw me? The last thing I remembered was Happy giving me my keys and going to sleep. Did Raven Tail capture me? No, wait, they're in jail. Why haven't these dragons noticed me yet? Even if somehow they could miss me standing right in the middle of their cave, wasn't their sense of smell their strongest point?

I whirled around, jumpy at the slightest sound. Zeref stepped out of a magic circle that indicated where he had teleported. In his arms whimpered a sleeping and familiar toddler. Me. So I was just dreaming a memory again, right? The thing was, when had this happened? And why?

Zeref stepped forward to place Little Lucy at Dream Me's feet. Evidently I was also ethereal in this dream-memory.

"Please. Just get it over with already," spoke Zeref.

"You are certain? That the magic this child has inherited from you be completely and utterly sealed?" rumbled a fiery red dragon. If he really was Igneel, I wouldn't've been surprised.

"You know that the Dragon King allowed an integration of magic. It wouldn't harm the child," growled a white dragon with feather-like scales. Grandine.

"It's permanent, y'know," snapped a black iron-plated monster, obviously Metalicana.

Zeref hesitated, looking as though to change his mind at the last minute. "Yes. I'm sure. But…maybe…there could be a loophole? If, perhaps, she knows she is going to die?" Zeref looked torn between guilt and hope. "I-Is that possible? I would do anything"—he flinched, remembering previous acts—"_almost_ anything."

"Yeah, sure. F**king complicated, though, 'cuz of the dragon mate clause we gotta add now," grumbled Metalicana. "Now scram. Any other magic will screw up the ritual."

Zeref nodded, relieved, and vanished.

The dragons shifted, and I could see many more behind the three leaders. Igneel reached out one terrifyingly sharp claw impossibly fast, and I screamed, forgetting it wasn't real. But it was as if nothing had happened; his claw continued through my chest and down to Little Lucy. Surprisingly gently he turned my body over so that I lay sprawled on my back, smaller than his claw.

His claw was retracted, and now the other dragons looked somewhat apprehensive.

"I'll do it," volunteered Metalicana, stepping forward and raking three reflective iron claws down Igneel's extended one. The thick, silvery gold-laced dragon blood seeped down his talon and onto the ever so vulnerable 2-year-old throat. Silver and gold flashed down, and crimson red welled up in beads, seeping steadily out with each pulse. I gasped, shock, horror, and fear tumbling through my mind before I noticed the calm on my younger face.

One by one, each dragon came up to be wounded by Igneel and mix their blood with mine. When they were done, a bright myriad of colors, rose, caramel, amaranthine, jade, magenta, cobalt, carnelian, amber, maroon, scarlet, ivory, cerulean, onyx, malachite, sepia, mahogany, silver, and gold, in all the shades that ever existed, stained my still-fuzzy baby hair, pooling under my miniature baby features.

Igneel drew the puddle into a perfect ring, and the dragons shuffled around so each was able to touch his or her snout to the circle. Slowly, deliberately, one break was drawn for the loophole, and connected again with a circle. I stood now in wonder, because this was simple, _true_ magic. Zeref may have developed all spells as the Father of Magic, but that was the point. Even he had needed the limitations and rules created by spells and runes. As one powerful resounding voice, the dragons spoke.

"_Mother Earth, hear your children now. We stand upon the holy conjoining of your power to ask for your strength, to bind the darkness from this child of man. She shall be the final piece to fulfill your prophecy…Ryuuousai!"_ howled all the dragons as one.

The swirls of color began moving, spinning faster and faster, giving off a brightening glow. Igneel opened his great maw over the little circle and breathed flames that were swept into the spinning lights. Metalicana was next, shards of iron spilling out. Then a glowing white dragon came forward. Rumbles of dissent and surprise floated forward, which prompted him to snarl, "You cannot deny us our right as children of the Earth." A ball of light tumbled into the mix of Draconian elements. I blinked, realizing that the white dragon's shadow was actually a dragon, then again as I realized they must be Sting's and Rogue's foster parents. He contributed something vaguely dark and otherwise indiscernible into the now shrinking circle.

The shrinking combined with the swirling to spin into a funnel, rising slowly off the ground. At the last minute a dragon streaked in, left a crackling bolt of voltage and left. The tornado picked up speed, spiraling around the larger circle as though picking up all traces of blood and magic, following the trail back to my throat and sinking in, vanishing completely. Now my entire body glowed, also lighting up my feet, still floating within the body of my younger self.

With each pulse, a glowing beacon of magic traveled down my neck, eventually resting on my heart. It pulsed once, twice, three times and faded. Without the brilliant light, I saw that every trace had disappeared. No fuchsia or teal on my hair. Not a scar on my throat, back to its natural pale white.

"ZEREF!" roared Igneel. I looked up, expecting to see a magic circle expanding, but—

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

I shot up. Why couldn't I see?! Ow! Why were my hands tied behind my back?! I tried to scream but a sharp prick in my arm told me differently. "—Hurry up, Sei—," was I all heard before I fell back into my dream, which very conveniently continued where I had left off.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

Zeref rushed forward to cradle Little Lucy in his arms.

"The dragons of Fire, Iron, Holiness, Shadow, and Thunder have made the binding with your daughter. Don't worry; she won't remember a thing," comforted Grandine. Zeref nodded tersely, glanced at the rising sun, and stepped through another magic circle. This time, though, I followed them.

Zeref landed in the nursery and tucked me in swiftly, murmuring, "Sweet dreams, Lucy. I wonder whether you'll ever be able to forgive me."

"Forgive you for what?"

Zeref jerked up, spun, and vanished in one fluid motion.

"That b****ard. So he's been meeting with his pathetic waif. He had better not dare set foot in my house again," sneered Jude, one hand tightening on the door handle.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

I bolted awake, or tried to. I was lying on a bed. Several needles and tubes connected my arm to a rack of glass flasks with clear liquids inside. My hands, head, and feet were held down with rough tingling straps. I wriggled, and could see the glowing restraint on my left arm. Glowing? Yup, definitely bad. More wriggling revealed an overhead magic light and what looked like a lab shrouded in darkness. The only good thing I could see was that all my wounds were healed, and I still had my keys. Obviously it was the same group who had attempted to kidnap Wendy instead of me.

They'd said they were hired by Raven Tail, but obviously that couldn't be possible since they were now in jail. Sabertooth? If Natsu and Sting were fighting, or Gajeel and Rogue, they might be trying to blackmail them…no, that just wasn't their type. Besides, those third-generation Dragon Slayers were so sure of their strength. "Hhh!" I gasped. Hadn't Jellal said he was impersonating Mystogan because of some weird Zeref-like magic? Had he, or she, captured me? They'd have to be pretty strong to get past Fried's barriers.

"Lucy Heartifilia. Age: 17. Guild: Fairy Tail. Magic: Celestial Spirit. And dark magic," said a boy, walking out of the shadows. The glaring white light failed to brighten his teak-toned skin and curly mahogany hair.

"…How do you know that? Why am I here? Who are you?" I snapped, doing my best to be fierce.

"Come," he said, completely ignoring me. "You are healthy enough now."

"What?! Of course not!" But the restraints popped open, and I hopped off, following Monotone-Boy. My keys were on my hip! All I had to do was move my hand! What kind of magic did he use? Was it like Bixlow's puppet magic? I had looked in his eyes, but I didn't remember feeling any different.

"Here she is," announced Mono-Boy.

I looked around for a door, somewhere to escape. _Stupid!_ Why hadn't I been paying attention for the doors, memorizing the path we took?! Instead I saw a large upright dial inscribed with the twelve zodiac signs, like a clock. Depicted in a smaller circle were the phases of the moon, leading to the full moon in the center. In the background of its face glittered the constellations. A chilly night wind swept in from a circle in the ceiling the exact size of the dial. Night? How long was I sleeping?

I walked forward without a choice, feeling almost as if I wanted to, towards the black figure standing with his arms crossed. As I closed the distance, I realized he was that council who always stood behind the king, and I sucked in my breath. If the Council was involved in this…well, hopefully it was just one rebellious captain.

"Yukino, help Lucy strap herself in," he commanded.

"Yukino!" I spun around and saw Sabertooth's ex-celestial mage cross the floor towards me in an army uniform. "How could you? I should never have let you keep your keys!"

"Yes, Captain Arcadios. Come on, Lucy. Hold your arm there."—Yukino slipped my arm through a lacrima cuff, watching it magically tighten at the same time I realized the entire thing was lacrima—"And now the next one. I'm doing this _because_ you let me keep my keys. That was when I knew you'd do anything to protect those you loved, your nakama. Your leg here. This is the only way to protect them."

"Why should I believe you?"

"Because you are good at making judgments about people. Other leg. You said I was a good person. And as a good person I made this choice, to save the world. You would have done it, if our positions were switched. Done."

I had nothing to say to that. Everything she said was true. If I thought for one picosecond **(A/N: one-trillionth!)** that my sacrifice could keep Natsu and Erza and Gray and Levy and Happy and Wendy and Charle and Master and Mira and Cana and Elfman and everyone else at Fairy Tail safe and happy, I'd do it. They'd be sad, but eventually try to live their life the way they thought I would have wanted them to. They were Fairy Tail.

But now I wasn't ready to die. I wanted my nakama to come busting in, beat up everybody, free me, and party afterwards. I wanted them to hold me while I cried and apologized for being captured, wanted Makarov to call me his brat, wanted Team Natsu to decimate this building this find me, wanted come up with ideas for my book with Levy, wanted to drink until I forgot everything with Cana. I wanted to _live_.

I cried silently, tears seeping out from squeezed-shut eyelids. I whimpered, my shoulders shook, and wished I was able to curl up into a ball, impossible spread out as I was. After I had cried myself out, I opened my eyes apathetically. Two hulking foot soldiers were achingly lowering the dial flat onto a depression in the ground. I stared straight up at the sky, noticing but not caring that the constellations outside were in the exact same position as the ones beneath me, as Yukino stepped in after them laying her keys, pointing towards me, on their respective signs. Methodically she took my keys and did the same.

The moment Yukino dropped the last key, I felt a sharp, persistent tugging in my stomach. I could feel my white magic racing out of me. So they must have been planning to use me to fuel some sort of machine or object. Due to the process, I would probably die once I was drained, and they would be able to "save the world". More likely take control of it for the greater good. Wow, I felt surprisingly hollow. Were they done already?

"Urrghhh," I moaned as the pain increased, aching deep in my bones and very cells **(A/N: I assume they know of cells, because magic seems to take place of modern technology)**. The black magic refused to leave, clinging to me.

"Increase it!" Arcadios shouted.

The lacrima dial and I rose, letting the full light of the moon intensify over us. I screamed, feeling my black magic painfully dribbling out.

"Good. At this rate, the process will end perfectly with the Eclipse. And then, finally, Zeref…" Arcadios sighed, as though savoring the situation.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

"Come on! Hurry up, old man! I wanna tell Lucy how I totally flattened those Sabertooth kitties!" Natsu sprinted up the curving staircase while the guild followed behind at a leisurely pace, laughing, joking, and teasing. Therefore he was the one to run smack bang into Fried and consequently tumble backwards down the stairs.

"WTH, flame-baka? Watch where you're going!" snapped Fried.

"What did you call me! I'll beat you like I did with Sting and Rogue!" roared Natsu, a flame in his hand.

Evergreen interrupted, "Stop it you idiot boys! Master, we have important news."

Bixlow continued, "No, Lucy's not kidnapped. We checked in on her every couple hours or so, doin' our rounds, and just now she was awake, so I walked in without Fried undoing his barriers!"

"I didn't forget to put them back up from the last time," Fried added, defending himself.

"Someone took them down!" interjected Ever.

Makarov shouted,"Quiet everybody! This is bad. You said Lucy was still in there?" The Raijinshuu nodded. "How is she?" They looked at each other.

"It's…hard to explain. On the outside she looks fine, but…it's…well, you'd better come see for yourself," said Fried.

The guild sprinted up the stairs and spilled into the infirmary. "Lucy?" asked Erza.

"Hey!" Lucy grinned, bouncing on the edge of the bed. She acted as though she was already perfectly healed. "I heard you say you won all the way over here!"

"Yeah! I totally pounded the little kitties!" Natsu shouted. "See? She's perfectly fine."

Ever said, "No. Look at how cheerful she is. Then look for what's missing."

The guild peered over each other's shoulders, seeing nothing wrong until Levy gasped, "Her keys! Lucy, your keys are gone! What happened?"

"Nothing happened. I just put them away for a while. I'm fine; they're fine!" Again Lucy grinned that huge smile that screamed fakeness.

Levy frowned. Lucy would never "put her keys away for a while". Her spirits were her nakama. Levy spoke out tentatively, trying to find what other parts of Lucy were messed up, "Lucy, can you write another chapter of your book for me? I know it's sudden, but please?"

"Sure! What book?" Lucy tilted her head, a smile plastered across her face.

The guild was silent, digesting this new discovery, until Happy said, "If you keep smiling like that, you're going to get wrinkles."

"That's nice!" And Lucy grinned even wider.

Natsu looked at Gajeel and he nodded. Natsu spoke up, "That's not Lucy. She smells different. In fact,"—Natsu and Gajeel stepped up and grabbed Lucy's arms—"she's not human at all!" As they pulled, Lucy cracked down the middle and split, revealing a mix of gears and wire, along with an energy lacrima.

Fairy Tail gasped and began murmuring in shock and horror. Makarov growled, "How dare they take one of my children! Natsu, Gajeel, can you follow their scent?!"

"It's faint, but it's there," assured Natsu.

"Everybody, let's remind them of the anger of Fairy Tail! Fried, I'll kill you after we find her," yelled Erza. "Let's go!"

Natsu and Gajeel led the mob out the hallway, pounded into an empty room and scrambled out the window, pulling themselves up the roof. From there they raced through Crocus, ending in front of the palace.

"What's wrong?" asked Gray.

"We can't smell the trail anymore! It was faint the whole way but now it's just gone!" Natsu growled in frustration. Every second wasted was another second Lucy could be in pain.

"No, it's not exactly like that. Beyond this gate, it smells empty, like they put a wall on it," corrected Gajeel.

"If it's a barrier I'll do it," volunteered Fried.

"I'll help as much as I can, too!" added Levy. "We'll break this down and bring Lucy back!"

**So, (I just realized, what my core teacher said was true! Where I live, 'so' is totally overused) that was my longest chapter ever! 3k words, to make up the lateness. Unfortunately, this landed on a cliffhanger, and I have Color Guard workshop the next two weekends…please don't kill me!**

**Thanks to Izzy26, Darkinght 898, and guest duhhello for reviewing!**


	6. Revealed

"There! Done!" gasped Levy, drained.

"We can smell her now! Lucy, we're coming for you!" Natsu charged ahead in a fury, throwing himself straight into the squadron of castle guards who had come stampeding out. "Move! I want my nakama back!" He tossed flames left and right, literally a human fireball. The soldiers simply let their shields and armor absorb the fire, sucking it in.

They stepped into a phalanx, aimed at the guild, and roared as one, "Phoenix Fire Formation!" Every flame Natsu had unceremoniously tossed at them surged out of the armor and towards the guild. He ran back and stood in the way. Makao and Romeo attempted to diverge the flames, but Natsu, unable to eat his own flames, was still bowled over, groaning.

"If flame doesn't work on them, let's see if they can withstand my ice! Ice Make! Lance!" A magic circle blossomed from Gray's hands, a multitude of icy spearheads speeding through the air. But these, too, sunk straight in and shot back at the Fairy Tail. Gray stood shocked, almost letting himself be injured until Juvia swept the ice away with huge wave.

"Well, they're obviously impervious to magic, but I bet not physical injuries!" Erza switched to her Heaven's Wheel Armor while running, her swords swirling and searching for the cracks in the soldiers' armors. They were good at defending, but it was evident that Erza was slowly taking them down. Gajeel joined in, punching and kicking, crushing their armor, and then Makarov swatting them with huge hands. The rest of Fairy Tail joined in, and decimated the squadron in couple minutes.

"Fairy Tail truly are strong, are they not, Capria?" A curly brown haired boy stepped out from a shadowed alcove.

"But not strong enough!" A girl in the impeccable uniform of the army jumped down from the tip of the alcove, a whip-like fiery red braid dancing behind her in the wind.

"No, they never are," whispered two girls, who had seemingly materialized from nowhere, in unison, identical but for their hair, one silver and one black.

Capria ordered, "Sei, Shin, stay back. Seigi and I'll be enough. Seigi, use level three; Captain said to only detain them."

"Understood." While Capria sprinted forward at an amazing speed, Seigi spread his hands out in front of him, letting a large magic circle grow between them. From the center a figure rose and walked out. Another one, and another, more and more, until at last twenty-five puppets stood in a block in front of him. Each carried a one sword, with glints of other sharp weapons hidden beneath their skin and clothing.

"Those will be easy to destroy! We pulled your fake Lucy apart easily!" sneered Natsu, smirking victoriously until Capria darted in under Gajeel's Iron Fist and slammed a palm on his chest. A magic circle burned itself into his chest while Capria flipped herself over him and behind Master Makarov, doing the same thing to him from behind.

"What the? I'll burn you into ashes for that!" Natsu spun around and lunged forward, his anger mounting seeing Master attacked. But the moment a fireball formed around his fist, he screamed and collapsed. Makarov, too, tried to attack her as she ducked, spun and whirled toward Laxus, but crumpled when he began swelling up.

"Don't let her touch you! How dare you touch the Master! Gray, freeze her!" shouted Erza, reverting to her bindings and flame pants. "She's too fast!" growled Gray.

While Capria took down Fried, Evergreen, Alzack, and Charle, Seigi's puppets began advancing. Gajeel stepped forward to confront them, biting off a sword that swung down towards him, but immediately coughing and hacking it out, eyes streaming. "He covered his weapons in poison! One scratch and you'll be gone!"

"Not quite," corrected Seigi. "It only paralyzes. It's not as if we wish to kill, but if you force our hand, one guild is but a small price to pay for the fulfillment of Eclipse."

"W-what… are… you… talk-ing…about?" wheezed Gajeel, still using Iron Clubs to stave off the 6 puppet soldiers attacking him with poison in his throat.

"I already told you the name; don't ask for too much." Seigi smiled angelically and sped up his soldiers. There were a lot of guild members; he had better hurry up and finish this one off. Gajeel snarled, "Iron Dragon's Secret Arts: Karma Demon: Iron Spiral!" As his feet spun together in a gigantic drill, Gajeel rested his weight on his hands, leaned back, swiped 4 puppets in half, but not before the 5th puppet shot a jagged-edged chain which the 6th puppet caught and together proceeded to wind it around his arms, which, due to the position he had been in earlier, caused him to fall to the ground with his hands tied behind his back, blood seeping out where the teeth of the chain had dug into his flesh.

The chain was still held tightly by the fifth and sixth puppets and as Gajeel flailed wildly, attempting to aim an iron club at them with his feet, or use Iron Dragon's Roar from his mouth, feeling the poison begin to take effect, the two puppets swung him around and around and around and let go….

Meanwhile, Fairy Tail had caught on to Capria and spread out so it would be harder for her to catch hold of them. Erza had switched to Flight Armor, zipping after Capria and trying to predict her movements. Erza would swing her sword at Capria telekinetically, sure to catch her, but Capria simply skipped backward. So Erza had increased her sword number, upping it from two, to five, to ten, to sixteen, to twenty-two, growling in frustration. Finally she decided to simply do it all-out and summoned a hundred, flashing in from the requip world to form a ball of spikiness. Facing inward.

Capria gasped. Even she knew she couldn't escape this one. Erza lifted her original sword in her hand, dropping it as the signal for all her swords to rush in and shish-kebab Capria unless she promised to undo her spells. After defeating her, Erza turned on Seigi, fought an epically awesome battle, defeated him, and ran towards Sei and Shin, who were by now so scared they immediately surrendered. Then they rescued Lucy, and Jellal was so amazed by Erza singlehandedly defeating the enemy that he took her on a two-person vacation to the beach, where he confessed his love and they all lived happily ever after.

That was what should've happened.

What actually happened was that Gajeel went flying and slammed into Erza so hard they skidded and tumbled all the way back to the gates, digging a nice deep ditch along the way.Mirajane and Elfman had gone demon and beast, and along the rest of the Raijinshuu's determination, were slowly taking puppet by puppet down. Juvia and Gray also managed a nice bit of damage; she would sweep up a couple with her water, and he would freeze it. The rest of the guild was split between reviving Makarov and Natsu; convincing Laxus, Laki, Fried, Alzack, and Charle not to fight; and staying on the defensive to keep out of the way of the efficient attacking group.

Levy, a bruise on her face from the butt of a puppet sword ran towards Erza and Gajeel, but Capria, around whom the swords had vanished once Erza was knocked out, leapt over her and stood in her way. Levy was a second from crashing face first, with Capria's hand ready for some spell; she could only scream, "Iron!" as fast as she could, letting the heavy chunk of metal sideswipe Capria's rib cage even as Capria dodged. Levy turned, a triumphant smile graced her face hearing the cracking of bone.

Levy's eyes widened as Capria rushed her again. "Iron!" she yelled.

"Sorry. I learn from my mistakes," smirked Capria maliciously.

"Levy!" gasped Bisca. "Ice Bullet!" Right on the mark, Capria froze, frosty tendrils expanding from impact point over her body. Her hand reached out, just touching Levy's chest.

"Thanks, Bisca!" Levy began running towards Erza and Gajeel again, and smiled. The tide was turning; the enemy had overestimated themselves. The smile dropped as she noticed the blood dripping from Gajeel's arms sticking up in the air because he had landed facedown on top of Erza, who was still unconscious. "Gajeel…" she whispered, horrified.

"Mm-mm-mmh!" said Gajeel, unable to talk in his paralyzed state. "Hmm-mm-mmhm!"

"Shh, don't talk. I'll try and push you off," said Levy fear and pain returning to her eyes. As she braced her back against his Gajeel's wounded body, her small feet digging into the ground, she saw the enemy had taken their short-lived advantage—taken it, crumpled it up, and spat it back in their face. Fairy was forced to fight fairy, desperately trying to hold back; Seigi laughed, his head thrown back, not even bothering to let his puppets fight; Capria had broken free from the Ice Bullet's grasp and stood calmly watching Natsu's pathetically stubborn attempts to defeat her; and Sei and Shin had not even moved yet.

"Oh, Lu-chan," breathed Levy. "If they could do this to us, what are you going through?"

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

I clenched my teeth, refusing to give Arcadios the satisfaction of my pain. How long had it been now? How much longer would I have to live? As the minutes ticked past and my magic level drained and the rising moon intensified my pain, I had begun to notice glowing from beneath me. Again with the glowing?! It was seriously overused.

I wished it would go away, because it meant that whatever they wanted me to do was working. I blinked, looking up at the sky. Darkness crept over the edge of the moon, coiling and shifting unlike a normal lunar eclipse. _"…the process will end perfectly on the Eclipse."_ What a surprise. My death loomed ever closer. "Natsu...You rescued me before," I whispered, thinking of Phantom's prison in the sky, "Please…do it again."

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

Natsu was flat on the ground, only barely awake. After trying and failing again and again, he had almost no energy left. Behind closed eyes, he remembered another time when Lucy had been captured. Just like right now, he could smell her scent. He had heard her voice, screaming his name. And he had felt the living weight of her body landing in his arms, glad he had gotten there in time. He remembered the anger for Phantom Lord, and felt it resurface, even now, years later, when Juvia and Gajeel were now trusted nakama. That anger combined with the anger at the soldiers who had mistakenly captured Wendy, Charle and Grandine, the anger that Capria and Seigi and maybe those girls had hurt his family, the anger that someone had captured Lucy, the anger that Minerva let "fairy scum" be second to torture her, the anger that Sting and Rogue had killed their dragons, and, most of all, the anger at himself that he couldn't protect those he loved. In the end, it was a very big, fiery, ball of anger.

Natsu pushed his hands against the ground, roughly drawing up his legs into an all-fours position. Then one foot was forward, flat on the ground so he could rest his weight on it as he pulled his other leg up to stand, swaying slightly. "I don't have any magic left," he snarled, "but I do have what it takes to protect my nakama!" Capria flinched as he rushed her; whether by accident or not he had found her weak spot. Her magic only sealed other magic. It did not affect the victim's physical, mental, spiritual, or emotional capabilities whatsoever. And right now, Natsu was very physical—a crack sounded as he aimed for her face and she flipped backward to dodge, causing him hit her squarely on the chin—very emotional—there was that look in his eyes as he crossed kicks with her and hooked his foot around her leg and tossing her to the ground—very spiritual—she hadn't ever seen such maniacal energy, and she couldn't bear failing Arcadios, so she screamed, "Sei! Shin!"

Shin clasped her hands together, but not all the way, leaving a small tunnel where she put her mouth and _sucked _ in. Little blips of energy, essence, _life_, was pulled out of the various shrubbery that hadn't yet been flattened, brown edging its way onto their leaves, consuming them and withering. Natsu stood firm, Shin's magic blurring his edges and teasing out one fiery-gold strand.

"Take it!" dared Natsu. "See if you can withstand the power of a DRAGON!" Fire exploded outwards, leaping tendrils curling high into the sky before arcing down again, excess dripping and hissing in the air, one crimson flare streaking through the Shin's magic black hole to punch her chest, singeing her clothes and knocking the wind out of her.

Natsu held his ground as Capria's sealing magic flared briefly before dying, unable to counter his dragon flames. He clenched one fist at his side and grinned. He dashed forward leaping into the air to attack from above, simultaneously swinging one leg around to throw off more of those annoying puppets, which caught on fire. Well, it _was_ wood. Now it was just a matter of time!

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

Jellal's cloak fluttered behind him as he raced through the forest, leaping high to avoid the tangled nests of tripwire-traps on the way to Crime Sorciere's campsite. He mentally abused himself for not establishing a proper technique for communication at all times. Now he'd abandoned Fairy Tail while getting reinforcements. He sped up. **(A/N: Let's conveniently forget about his telepathic abilities, shall we?)**

"Jellal!" Meredy's cry guided him to a crack between the rocks of a landslide. He sucked in his breath and wriggled in, flopping ungracefully onto the floor, where an image of a desperate, fighting guild, specifically, Erza, unblurred before his eyes. He scrambled to his knees, swiping his cobalt hair out of the way. Entranced by Erza's fighting figure, it took Meredy's now snappish, "Jellal!" for the fact that she was actually fighting, in the middle of the night, in the king's courtyard, and _losing_ to actually sink in.

"Meredy," he commanded, all vestiges of nostalgia gone. "Prepare Maguilty Sense. Ultear, destroy all of our traces. We're leaving. I'm sure you can sense why I came. Something important and immensely powerful is in the air, and it will change our world forever."

Meredy slipped out first, Jellal forced himself through after her, and Ultear stuffed everything into the ethereal requip dimension, brought the little cave to the time when it was simply a crack, while hauling herself out, her voluptuous frame more flexible than Jellal's muscles. They sped off, Jellal first, Ultear next to him with her vid-orb, and Meredy looking over their shoulders ready to employ Maguilty Sense and knock herself out. Jellal grimaced at Erza's unconsciousness, but his hope flared watching Natsu fight. "Her," he said tersely, pointing at Sei, "the unknown factor." Ultear slung Meredy's limp body over her shoulder; both she and Jellal smirked watching Shin, literally glowing with magical overload, screaming, "Sei! Where are you?!" She shuddered, rippled, and slowly, painfully pulled in her fingers, damming the river of magic. But Natsu continued sending it, even while defeating Capria, who glanced quickly, horrified at the turn of events, at the mysteriously out-of-commission Sei. The magic built up, swirled at the closed door, ramming it angrily, repeatedly. Shin gritted her teeth, her eyes squeezed shut, the muscles in her hand strained, the magic pushed, and broke through. Her hands flew open, her mouth an open O as the magic flooded, overwhelmed, exploded.

Jellal blinked away the starbursts and full-out grinned into the vid-orb. He could see the lights of Crocus ahead, Erza was stirring, the guild was dealing with the puppet soldiers, Natsu had just punched Capria into the courtyard wall, cracks spider-webbing away from her, and the Seishin twins were down for a long, long time.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

Fairy Tail fought with new hope. A trio of puppets exploded in multi-color flames. Another sprouted branches and rooted itself in the soil. Two more fell apart, cards sticking out of their joints. Erza stood up, stretched, and walked over calmly to the front of Fairy Tail, facing Seigi, as though she'd merely taken a break, pointing her sword straight at Seigi, who stood just as calmly. "So much for 'not strong enough', hm? You're outnumbered; lead us to Lucy. Now." Jellal, Ultear, and (the unconscious) Meredy landed in the courtyard from Jellal's Heavenly Body Meteor to further prove Erza's statement. Erza's tone of voice left even her own guild members shaking, combined with her glare it was deadly.

"Au contraire," drawled Seigi. "I can have as many of soldiers as I want—certainly more than enough to defeat _you_." He lazily waved a hand in their general direction. "As for your first point, so long as we fulfilled our mission, you were never strong enough." Seeing their faces dawning on panic, he smirked. "That's right, little fairies, you're too late!" And he vanished with the moon.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

I heard a tremulous, joyful whisper of, "Ah. The Gateway Behind the Moon," before my world turned dark and exploded, and the next thing I knew, I was being carried, bridal style, by my illegitimate father, watching Fairy Tail storm dramatically into the chamber and freeze in shock.

Zeref sat me carefully against the wall. "Are you hurt?" he asked, ever so tenderly, one hand tucking my hair behind my ear as I had wished Jude would do for so many times. Numbly, I shook my head disbelievingly watching relief cross his face and anger take its place. He kissed my forehead and pressed my keys into my hand. Zeref kissed my forehead! Zeref!

"Nobody touches my daughter!" he snarled at Arcadios. So much for keeping that hidden. Zeref … father… kissed…Fairy Tail… black-mage, me…oh, too much, information overload. I needed to think about something else. Preferably beautiful, sparkly, and happy. My gaze slipped past my still-frozen guild, Arcadios cowering before my father, to the lacrima dial I had very recently been locked onto.

The dial had risen into the air, and supporting it was a delicately twisting crystal structure. It was certainly beautiful, if more glowing than sparkly, but as for happy… well, a depressed robot with suicidal tendencies would have had more. At the center was the cause of the glowing: two glittering golden keys. That's it? They'd better be pretty powerful, if I had to go through all that.

Oh that's right, I had my keys now. I had barely any magic after the Eclipse procedure; who would be most worried? Definitely Loke. But maybe… still Loke. But he was also one of the last ones I wanted to know about Zeref. He'd feel terribly betrayed if he found out second-hand, though. Loke it was. "Open! Gate of the Lion, Leo!"

"Lucy! What happened? Zeref"—and then he saw the structure, noticed the darkened moon, and breathed in sharply. "They didn't."

"Oh, yes, they did," hissed Zeref.

"The Lumen Keys? With your blood in her veins? Are they insane?"

Whoa. Rewind. Loke…knew?

He continued, "Fools, daring to violate ancient magic. Shall we?" Loke flicked his head at that structure-and-dial-thingy… ok, I was just going to call it Sparkles.

"With pleasure." The two angrily stalked over to Sparkles. I blinked. It was gone, and a few fallen chunks of the rest of the roof scattered the floor.

"You will show the Council of Fiore what happened, and you will tell them what I said, and if they still don't believe you, show them what I branded on your skin, and if you ever dare to attempt this again, may all heaven and hell help you, I will hunt down your pathetic souls and stab your hearts until it is BLOODY RED. And then I'll tell your moms you were mean. Now leave!" Zeref emphasized this by slamming Arcadios into the wall with every clause, and finally tossing out through the nonexistent roof. He looked around for Yukino and Arcadios's other followers, but they had long vanished.

"That last one was just plain cruel," commented Loke.

"Lucy, how old are you?" Zeref asked, completely ignoring Loke.

"Seventeen," I whispered.

"Seventeen," he repeated. "Leo, watch over her, I have an oath to keep."

"Seventeen," said Loke, just for effects, and sat down next to me, wrapping one arm aroung me, just quietly sitting there. It was comforting, after all the turmoil, and I was nearly lulled to sleep on his shoulder until a blaring noise erupted.

"Attention, citizens and mages of Fiore!"

Zeref's voice! What was he doing on the referee's megaphone?!

"Lucy Heartfilia of Fairy Tail is bound by the laws of ancient magic to take a Dragon Slayer for a husband. At the end, it will be her choice, but a Dragon Slayer of Fire, Iron, Holiness, Shadow, and Lightning may woo her. Let the competition for her heart begin!"

And then of course Fairy Tail chose that moment to unfreeze. "WHHAAAAAAAAT?!"

**And the romance comes into play. I made a poll, but there are some pairings I dislike… if merely a few votes, I'll designate the pairings; a landslide will be needed with convincing reviews, and you don't even know which pairings!**


	7. Crash Course in Courting

**I am sorry. I have no excuse for not updating. Beyond that, DO NOT PANIC! Pairings have yet to be decided. Just because characters are… um, well, you'll see what I mean. But, seriously, all pairings will have a fair share of screen time.**

After the initial realization, my guild was quite even-keeled about everything, because, well, they _were_ Fairy Tail. (The initial realization being something along the lines of, "WHAAAAT?! LUCY-ZEREF-YOU-BUT I THOUGHT-ARE YOU HURT- KICK HIS-I DON'T- WHEN'D YOU-DID YOU-WHEN HE-_EVERYONE, SHUT UP! _Talk after we get back to the hotel, got it, brats? That includes, you, Mr. Zeref.") The Council had announced a sudden and unforeseen catastrophe, the Games over, Fairy Tail the winner, and pretty much gone into hiding. Our guild immediately decided to use the prize money, instead of logically paying the heap of debts, to fund the entire guild's trip to Driftwood Inn in the famous Rubies of Fiore. It was, however, utterly and completely worth it, seeing the brilliantly red cliffs at sunset as we arrived, with the surf crashing against it in all its epic and wonderful cheesiness. Unfortunately, Zeref missed the view; in fact, he disappeared for much of the boat ride.

Once we checked in, Zeref popped in, noting, "I ought to teach you teleportation, Lucy." Cue much jaw dropping and envy, because teleportation was _just that awesome._ Pouring after us, were all the other guilds who were either A) friends: Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, Crime Sorciere (unmasked); B) rivals: Sabertooth; and C) random jealous guilds. Obviously Natsu, Gajeel, Sting, and Rogue were a guaranteed. Laxus, to put it in Master's words, had "irresponsibily run off on some mission that was most certainly not approved by me and dumped me with this shitty baby sitting job". Mavis proceeded to blow bubbles at him, having found the magic that is bubble solution.

"Lucy, would you care to dance?" A hand was extended into my vision. I looked up and gulped seeing Sting , all dressed up, tux, tie, and all. Oh God. Natsu wouldn't… oh.

He hadn't gone for the suave and formal. No. For him, "formal" was a simple, black, skintight shirt and loose pants. He met my eyes, smiled broadly, waving, and I dragged my eyes back over to Sting with his cocky smirk and too-sharp eyes that followed my every move—it really didn't help my already obvious blush.

On the one hand, if I accepted, I'd feel like I was betraying my guild and supporting Sabertooth. On the other, if I declined, that might give the impression that I was showing favoritism towards my own guild, and that I really might like Natsu or Gajeel better (which I _didn't_, whatever Mira might say (don't listen to what she says; it's all lies! Lies!) ). I sighed mentally. Couldn't they just send flowers or chocolates or love letters? For one, it'd be a lot less public. Then again, if I was honest with myself… I had four (excluding Laxus, gone AWOL) hot guys trying their best to seduce me (for once), which was also guaranteed to be hilarious as they screwed up and sabotaged each other's plans, and I was going to take advantage of it, even if it was ridiculous, testosterone-fueled competition set up by my father in which I was the prize. Simply put, I took his hand.

Sting pulled me closer to him than I would have liked, with one arm slung possessively over my shoulder. Stubbornly, I pushed him away so he could escort me _properly_ as a _gentleman_, and _not_ a playboy. Still, he continued to drift disconcertingly close.

As the heir to the Heartfilia Estate, blood daughter or not, it had been required, of course, that I learn many social and academic arts and abilities, including dancing that befitted the people of my station, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that Sting was no amateur in the art of ballroom dancing. In fact, it was easy to attribute my breathlessness towards his ability.

Before long, he spoke up. "So tell me about yourself, Lucy."

"Surely you would know that it is polite to tell of oneself first," I replied, curious to learn more about a rather enigmatic character, and coolly polite despite his flattering.

"Ah, but I would hate to seem self-absorbed."

"In that case, I ask you to speak of yourself."

"And there we have a dilemma, Lucy. For if you might recall, I asked first."

"…I could blackmail you. By choosing Natsu."

"It is obvious, to anyone who has ever talked to you, that you would never make such a serious choice over such a petty question. Besides, you're very easy to read. Lucy, you find me attractive. You find all of us attractive. You are slow and methodical, and you don't want to make a bad choice. I have a slight advantage over the others because I have made the first move, and you love dancing."

Speechless, the song ended before I could reply and Sting let go.

"Thank you for the dance, Lucy." He bowed once, and was gone. Still flattered and confused, I didn't have much time to recover as Natsu bounced over.

"Hey Lucy!"

"Hi, Natsu. You're looking good."

"Yup. Just for you!"

I had to admit, I was surprised he could pull out a romantic side, and said so, "But we're only friends."

"_Best_ friends!" he corrected.

"Okay, best friends."

"For forever?"

"Yes, Natsu."

"Promise me?"

"Yes, Natsu."

"Be my girlfriend?"

"Yes, Na—wait, WHAT?!"

"YEESSSSS!" Natsu then proceeded to tackle me, flying across the room, landing on Erza's cake, splattering it all over her and Jellal. Oh, snap. This was bad. This was very, very bad. Erza was going to _kill_ us for this. She certainly looked ready to, until Jellal, luckily, chuckled and reached over to scoop off a strawberry and clump of whipped cream off to the side off her mouth. Then he looked at his fingers, smirking evilly.

"FOOD FIGHT!" The innocent-looking cake became a dangerous source of whizzing projectiles, and we were right in the middle. Correction: _I_ was right in the middle of it. Natsu had left that—now that I thought about it—slightly uncomfortable position on top of me to join in the melee.

"Need a hand?" Levy… I probably shouldn't get too close to Gajeel. Well, it looked like nobody else was willing, so I reluctantly placed my hand in his. He pulled a little too suddenly and strongly, and I shot up, stumbled, my hands instinctively grabbing on something. That "something" was his chest.

"Whoa, no need to throw yourself at me Bunny-girl!"

"I did _not_ throw myself at you! I would never be so uncomposed for some-some…" I spluttered angrily.

"Speechless, too? You just keep stroking my ego, Bunny."

"Shut UP! Go away," I added irritably.

"Ouch, Bunny. Well, if you say so."

Too late, I realized that Gajeel had set up a barrier, which vanished with him. Immediately bombarded by food, I ducked for cover, only to be swamped by an insane, food-throwing, mob of a guild. As chaos ensued, I remembered the feel of three other bodies.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

Early the next morning, the tingles of strong magic returning woke me up. I snuck out from the room I officially shared with Erza, even though she'd switched with Ultear and Meredy, dressed somewhat less provocatively than usual, if only because the beach Driftwood Inn was situated on was smothered in fog.

The fog swirled, shifting as I walked through it. In the distance came the steady crash of waves, deadened by the dense blanket of condensation. A figure formed, slowly gaining shape, until I realized it was Zeref. I stopped next to him, waiting till he had closed his eyes and sighed exhaustedly. When he opened his eyes to greet me, all signs of tiredness were gone. "Good morning, Lucy."

"Morning," I replied. What do you say to your illegitimate immortal father, the most powerful mage in the world, once evil?

"Lucy? Oh, there you are." A large gust of wind exposed Wendy, trotting up to us with a hot plate of breakfast and a mug of hot chocolate. "I brought breakfast—Oh, I'm so sorry, Zeref-sama, I didn't know you were here, too. I'll run back and get another plate right away." She darted back, then realized she hadn't given my breakfast to me yet, skidded to a stop, paused to steady the mug, and was on her way back when Zeref spoke up.

"No, that's all right." He began walking towards the inn. "I have some suggestions for my daughter's suitors. For example," he said, coughing meaningfully as we walked past a sand dune, "I would have escorted her to the beach, or delivered her breakfast, if I were them."

Behind the dune, an immediate scurrying followed, consisting of, "No, I want to be the first one!", "Well, that's really smart, where are you going get the food, huh?", "Lucy's obviously going to fall for me anyway,", "Shut up, they'll hear!", and then a heavy grunt and Natsu, Gajeel, and Sting rolled over each other in tangle of flailing limbs to finally dog pile behind us. Natsu magically (not the Eternano kind, the where-did-all-those-cookies-right-in-front-of-me-go kind) heaved himself out from the bottom of the pile and leaped over, smiling and _sparkling_ happily, desperately clinging onto my arm.

"Lucy!" he exclaimed. "Wedidfollowyoubutwedidn'twannabotheryousoStingsaidto eavesdropbutZerefnoticedusan dtheywouldn'tletmegofirstandGajeelwasrea llymeanandapushysothat'swhyweallfell!"

"…what?"

"Natsu, you little demon, _you_ wanted to eavesdrop. And whadya mean Gajeel was pushy? You pulled us all down with you!" Sting snapped, one eyebrow ticking dangerously. "The (h-e-double toothpicks) were you THINKING, baka!"

"Um," suggested Wendy quietly in the background, "I-I really don't think we should fight."

"Blame me, would you flamebrain?" growled Gajeel.

Great. Another day, another fight. It didn't look like Zeref was going to interfere any time soon either. "You guys are so annoying," I mumbled. Though, obviously, practically a shout for Dragon Slayer ears.

"See? She doesn't like you guys at all! You should go away," scolded Natsu as he shooed them away with one dismissive hand.

"And what are you, a girl?" asked Sting icily.

"That… is completely irrelevant! Come, my love, wonderful things await!" Then all I could do was press my face into his neck as he swept me up and carried me to the inn. Actually, "carried" isn't the best term, since it implies a somewhat slow, gently motion, and he got me there in two seconds flat. "Erza, Mira, Juvia, incoming!" he bellowed. He burst into Mira's room, dumped me on the bed, and fled, the door slamming shut behind him.

I was not given time to speak as I was deposited in a satin-and-lace concoction, frilled and plumped and all-around beautified, and swept downstairs to the anteroom where I barely had time to acknowledge the bustling whirlwind of activity before I was alone again. Then slowly, the doors opened.

I walked over to Natsu, wondering why everyone was staring at me.

"What's happening?" I hissed at him.

"We're getting married, of course!"

**It's short (2k words), it's late (for over a month, as FabFairyFan keeps reminding me), it's a cliffie (again). Life goes on. Should I count pairing votes from guests?**

**Thank you, Reviewers:**

**Chapter 5: Izzy26, GoldenRoseTanya, Vivid x Dreams, Betty**

**Chapter 6: Guest, FuzzyPeachz12, GoldenRoseTanya, Guest, DemonPrincessKleo, I Am Awesome D, FabFairyFan, Guest**


	8. Milestones

**A more serious chapter, but it was really fun for me to write. Enjoy!**

"YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG! IT DOESN'T WORK THIS WAY, BAKA! Y-y-you didn't even ask me yet!"

"Will you marry me?"

"NO!" And as I took in a breath to yell at him, something changed; I felt sick and terrible, and I wanted to hurt him, and I was angry, no, I _hated_ completely, but I didn't know why, my magic was reacting; somewhere in my mind I knew I didn't really want to hurt Natsu, my nakama—and then in a burst of fresh wind I collapsed onto pine-scattered loam, breathing in their sharp scent.

"Breathe, Lucy," said Zeref, letting me lean on him.

"What… was that?" I gasped.

"I took advantage of the surge in your magic to teleport us here, on the cliffs. We will not be disturbed by anyone unless my barrier is taken down. You are here so I can teach you to control your magic. Black magic will take any advantage you give it, and it will use that advantage to hurt you and those around you. You need to understand that it is absolutely necessary to have complete control over it. Control comes with understanding."

By now, I was breathing normally again and I sat on my own; Zeref's steady instructing voice was calming.

He spoke again, seeing that I was ready, "We will begin by familiarization. Close your eyes. Find it. Feel it."

I did so, and flinched as it lashed back, stinging.

"Don't flinch. Lucy, look at me. You cannot control it if you are not strong. Right now, you are not strong enough."

I looked down, biting my lip. I knew I would always be weak.

"You _are_ strong compared to the average mage—let alone average celestial mage. But you are in Fairy Tail, a renowned guild. You are part of a team with exceptional members. You are dragon-touched. And you are my daughter—you have my magic. The expectations are higher; it is necessary for you to be stronger."

"Dragon-touched?" I queried, somewhat befuddled. "Do you mean that time when you…" I stopped, thinking perhaps it was something I shouldn't have known.

Zeref smiled wryly. "Let me guess. You dreamt that I took you to dragons who spelled you."

"Yeah, that," I agreed.

"Black magic will exploit itself in strange ways when it builds up. The dragons had sealed most of the magic, but you broke that seal in the fight with Minerva. In order for you to be able to do that, I paid a much higher price.

"Of course," added Zeref, "I would paid almost any price—dragons are mostly reasonable—but it was not my intention to place you in a situation with even more expectations."

"What are you talking about?" I said, apprehensive as I remembered the words of the dragon ritual in my dream.

"The-ah-situation involving the five Dragon Slayers," replied Zeref, at least having the grace to look sheepish, and I remembered what brought me here in the first place.

I glared at him. "What's the point of the whole thing anyway?"

"That was the price. I let them marry you, and the contract is fulfilled."

"So you just let them?!"

"I knew the dragons; they would make worthy husbands."

"That is _so_ not the point. What if I love someone else? Why do_ I_ have to choose? What happens if I refuse to choose? Why do they want me to marry a Dragon Slayer?"

Zeref remained silent, looking at me as though in a different light, or contemplating what to say.

He began, "There are those who wish to know predetermined fate, whether a glorious destiny or an unmarked life. Much of mankind cannot resist that knowledge, once available. And then there are those who want to live life to the very fullest at each and every moment and experience things as they come to bloom, full circle. Often these are people with the best chances and best qualities of a leader, and as such, they often discover that their very core belief of life has been denied them.

"You, as one of the latter, will need to accept this is your fate. Bear in mind, however, that the dragons did not choose you arbitrarily; they believe you really are their best hope for ultimate peace. They say you are the one with the power to choose, and with all the other factors, one extreme might well leave you saving the world. Then again, it might have something to do with the fact that there is great probability you will be the one to set the world along the path of destruction in the first place." Zeref shrugged. "Who knows? The future changes with every choice."

I blinked, shaken by the information dumped on me. Save the world? Ultimate peace? Path of destruction? That wasn't me at all; I hoped the future changed enough between now and then that I would never have to face such things. Thinking thoroughly, I nodded, decisive. The best way to have everything I wanted was to be able to gain and protect them myself.

"Zeref? I want to learn; please, teach me everything. I want to be stronger, to be recognized as strong so I can protect my nakama. I want—I don't want to have to save the world and fail."

He paused, then beamed, "I am certain you will give me many more opportunities to be as proud of you as I am now. Try touching your magic again."

I could feel it brimming just beneath my consciousness, waiting for me. Confident rather than tremulous, I was rewarded by the sight of the black light indicating magic surrounding me.

"Good. Now, spellwork," the slightest of frowns marring his face. "You need a strong body Lucy, and I know you have not paid the most acute of attention towards that area. It _is_ important, Lucy," Zeref lectured; his voice hardened to emphasize his point.

And that was how it became a regular sight for me to be wobbling unsteadily down the cliff hiker's path, along the beach, and into the inn, much too drained to use any sort of magical aid.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

Zeref stood on a tree limb, high and secluded from the rest of the world. His sight, magically sharpened, tracked a certain pretty blonde trekking across the snow in Magnolia. Opposite the trunk sat Mavis, legs swinging contentedly. They conversed in murmurs; no one who happened to be traversing the lonely wilderness would notice them blended into snow and trunk, white and black.

At some point, the conversation quieted, and silence reigned. Mavis leaped down, and, lightly stepping above the snow so as to not leave foot prints, made her way quickly to Fairy Tail. She had a _very_ exciting message for the Sixth Master.

Zeref remained, alone, and turned his face to the sky, graced with a wistful smile. Fairy Tail had returned to Magnolia that fall, and as the official number one guild in Fiore, job requests poured in daily, and every member was only too willing to take advantage of extra jobs as December approached. Except Lucy, of course, because he had to keep training her. Protesting at first, she gave in when he offered an allowance much higher than her meager salary after deduction for destruction. (It was an unspoken rule that source of money was not mentioned.)

With time, came progress. When they had returned, Zeref had no longer teleported Lucy to training. The day after he had taught her the same spells he used on the barrier, he was purposefully late and unable to find a particular section of forest. And on and on; Lucy's learning curved steeply.

He was extremely proud of his daughter, but he missed Layla. Four centuries of loneliness and regret, broken by barely a year of love. He had long overstayed his time in this world, and too much of that time had been spent trying to destroy it. Lucy was his greatest redemption, that the dragons would attest to, but still the guilt gnawed at him.

And so he had made his decision. One mission. And then he would visit the dragons one last time.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

I spun, laughing in the softly drifting snow, reveling in Zeref's arbitrary vacation. Spotting a festive bookstore tucked into a niche between two other shops, I skipped towards it delightedly. Inside, I ran my fingers past the crisp, clean spines, scanning titles and famous authors that I hoped my name would one day be amongst. Plucking off a few choice selections, I staggered over to a big, comfy armchair. (What? There was only twelve.)

As I read, and the soft, jazzy holiday music played in the comfortable warmth of the store, I inevitably found myself drifting to sleep.

_I stared at the rock in my hand, sitting beneath a rock outcropping in the middle of somewhere in some forest. There, that hiss. Another demon was coming. I couldn't care. It was too late, anyway. As the bug-like creature clattered its pincers upon spotting me, my arm reflexively sprang back and threw the rock at the base of its tail, the weak point—just as Father had taught me, with no expenditure of magic. The demon hissed and frothed, killed by its own ruptured poison glands._

_As apathetic as I was, I still picked up another rock and closed my eyes, waiting. Soon another one would come. Everything had just come crashing down…_

I jerked awake, recognizing my surroundings as the details of the dream faded away, leaving behind a bitter taste in my mouth. How long had I been asleep? I looked around for a clock, then out the window and saw that the sun had set. Already? I hurried to return the books to their proper shelves, and then to the guild. I was pretty sure Zeref had told me to meet him there for dinner, in the café that had come with new renovations and I hoped I wasn't late. It was slightly morbid, how, in the centuries of immortality, he had never once learned to cook in a futile attempt to starve himself. My own cooking… was nothing short of _disastrous_. Evidently his genes at work.

The first thing I saw as I walked in the door was Master's face, saying "We need to talk" like a flashing neon signboard. I walked over, following him into his office on the second floor with more than a little trepidation.

"Lucy," he said, once I had sat down, "Zeref has … left."

"Left?" I frowned, "Did he say anything?"

"Yes. He wants you to take the S-class exam next month."

"What? There's no way! I'm not ready!"

"Well, I don't have any sort of grasp on your magical ability, but he certainly seems to think you are. Zeref also reserved this mission for you. Apparently, if you can complete it, then you can take the exam." Master pushed a sheet of paper over from the other side of his desk.

"Wait, how am I supposed to take an S-class mission _before_ taking the exam?"

"You didn't think we'd let you do something like this alone, didja, Lucy?" Natsu stood in the doorway, ready to go, grinning like the Cheshire Cat… on _sugar high_, with Happy hovering above his shoulder. Erza and Gray, with their (and mine) respective baggage, flanked him, also smiling. I couldn't help it; my mouth split open in a grin, I grabbed the job sheet off the desk, "Thank you, Master!" and hugged my nakama fiercely.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

When the teens had left, Mavis appeared. "You couldn't possibly have warned them about Takrenope, could you?"

"Well, it's not like they'll be in any danger. Besides how strong Team Natsu is initially, they'll have three other Dragon Slayers tagging along."

"Yeah… it's not like they're going to find out about…"

**Re: To Anonymous Guest: So what I tried to make clear was that the black magic is deadly (kinda like gamma rays). Lucy, as a baby, could accidently hurt or kill people, possibly including herself. Therefore, Zeref made a deal with the dragons to seal her magic. However, he didn't want to lock away the only (good) legacy he had left, permanently. The dragons offered him a loophole: let Lucy's mate be a dragon slayer. They did this to fulfill their prophecy. So now the magic is sealed, but the nonpermanence allows some of it to leak through and perform Ancient Magic, specifically, that created by Zeref.**

**In the first chapter, Zeref's proximity on the island stirred up more magic than Lucy was used to when being extremely emotional; the feelings were from an unconscious accidental Sense Link. (No, she did not already have feelings for Natsu, that was Zeref's disappoint, sadness, etc. at not being killed bleeding through.) Now that she broke the seal by the loophole (death/life situation) the magic bleeds through even more, and she has certain dreams. Lucy also activated the condition: Dragon Slayer mate, since she was what Dragons considered adult. I hope this explains everything, and thank you for letting me know you were confused!**

**To all readers: I'll probably end up making a chapter on magic theory, and all that other stuff that might be confusing, because, as all writers know, creating things is fun! Well, looks like Team Natsu is ready to roll! And Takrenope shows up again!**


	9. To Hell in a Handbasket

I reclined lazily in the steamy bathtub; finally having a chance to relax without the constant strain of Zeref's overbearing presence. He was much too serious for his own good, come to think of it, like Jude. I smiled, amused at the thought of my mother attracted to the clichéd strong and silent type.

Noting yelling from what sounded like Natsu and a couple other voices I almost recognized, I sharpened her hearing automatically and scowled. Not now! Out of the water and wrapped in a towel, I slammed the door open, shouting at the invaders of my (hotel) room—with my skin flushed and slick from the humidity and quite a lot of which was exposed to the slack-jawed males.

Realizing exactly what they were pop-eyed at, I spun around and closed the door as abruptly as it had opened, adding a low and ominous warning, "You will all be out of my room by the time I return," through the barrier. Sighing, I drained the water, giving up on relaxing, and dressed. Stepping outside, I was—unfortunately—greeted by the sight of the invaders ignoring my orders. "Out. Now."

In the living room of our suite, I sat and nursed my blooming headache while Pantherlily, accompanying Gajeel, explained their need to even the flooring by at least ensuring they all had the same oppurtunities. Sting, bowing, apologized profusely and snuck in half-a-dozen flattering endearments. Gajeel growled something about how the bunny needed a real dragon to protect her that earned him foot-in-face. I most certainly did not need protecting, thank you very much.

When I looked expectantly at Rogue, he just … looked, intense yet utterly relaxed. Not stared, just looked, half-lidded, conveying a sense of dry sardonic amusement. Why not? Then he glanced away, and I breathed again. Spirit King help me, why did I have so many serious men in my life?!

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

Nearly a week (of torturous motion-sickness for both the victimized and healthy) later, we finally set foot on the exotic island of Takrenope. I realized that I had half-expected without magic, but it looked normal enough, coarse grains of sandy beach sloping up to meet the fringes of feathery pine trees at the edge of the port city. Raising my eyes I analyzed the sprawling expanse of forest to where it met the snow on the distant mountains. Most of the cities were evidently either beyond the peaks or out of sight along the coast, and the island much bigger than I'd thought to support its agricultural economy and maintain so much natural beauty.

Receiving helpful directions from a variety of vendors for the location of Booler, the town of residency of our client, the unanimous decision was made to first find the parameters of magic in an environment unique to all of us, then retire early for the sake of my sanity. Oh, wait—forgot losing it was a prerequisite to joining Fairy Tail.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

That night, after fending off Natsu's glomping and putting Sting's daily bouquet in a vase, I confronted Gajeel. His lascivious leering was cut off as I spoke, "Why are you doing this?" His fanged grin and seeming nonchalance, preceded by a moment of hesitation only furthered my determination.

"You are not in this for entertainment or hopes of an actual relationship. We may be nakama, but it is clear to both of us you will never think of me that way. Your rivalry with the other Dragon Slayers is strong, but I want to know why you feel it is worth it to destroy your relationship with the one person who could really be your mate."

"Straight to the point, heh. Like your father."

"Answer my question… please," I added.

"First off, I dunno who you're talkin' 'bout."

"Are you blind? Haven't you noticed the chemistry?"

"What 'chemistry'?"

"With Levy! There was time when you protected her from Laxus's lightning, and the incident a Tenroujima Island where she was so worried about you!"

"... no way. In case you forgot, I still attacked her-be lucky if she wasn't traumatized for life!"

"Che, you're the only one still hung up over that. Every Fairy has something in their past-yours isn't the worst. Open your eyes, Gajeel, before you lose a valuable friend, at the least. I may have forgiven you for doing her physical harm, but I certainly won't if you break her heart!"

And on that happy thought, I left.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

Having ascertained our ability to perform magic (my theory was that people here didn't have the ability to absorb Eternano, but that didn't explain why magical devices didn't work either), we boarded a train for Booler with the accompanying amount of vomiting. That was on feature that unfortunately for them was a significant turn-off. I could tell they were aware of that and attempting to overcome it, but without Wendy's Troia they didn't stand a chance.

Meanwhile, Erza, Gray, and I revamped our fighting style for both my new abilities and the bague request to find some people, but it wouldn't be S-class for nothing.

With the Dragon Slayers (and my magical sensory-enhancements), our sensing was taken care of. If we had to protect anyone, Gray would throw up Iced Shields, then I'd teleport them to safety. If we were separated, I would cast Sense Link for communication (Maguilty Sense being the Ancient Magic I was most proficient with). The Exceeds' wings, Aquarius's water, Gray's ice, and Virgo's underground abilities covered the sky, water, and ground. Erza's Requip could be handy for disguises and storing objects. Rounding off with four Dragon Slayers, I thought we were pretty well off- probably the strongest team, for real this time. (I really hoped we didn't destroy things equivalent to our power, though). If I had known exactly what we were up against, though...

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

In Booler, which was just above the foothills on the other side of the mountain range, the address on the job request led us to and ancient and majestic mansion on the outskirts of the town. The servants leading us to our client only furthered the impression of splendor.

Finally, in his office, a rotund, bespectacled man sat behind his desk. Clasping his hands together, he said, "You are the mages of Fairy Tail that accepted the request? Good. I am Mr. Frapoly, the owner of Frapoly Mining Operations. Recently, a series of natural disasters has severely injured the functional capability of my company. Investigations have confirmed that there is a person or people who wish me and my company harm. It is your job to find their base of operations. I will be providing food and boarding as well as any resources you may need. Please begin as soon as possible."

"I see," I said. "I assume since our possessions have already been taken care of, I have a few questions." Zeref's lessons were kicking in as I questioned our client on the situation.

"First, a map, please, with the locations of your mines."_ Familiarize yourself with your surroundings._

"What do you mine?"_ Know the situation._

"What information is there about the enemy, and its magical capabilities?"_ Take advantage of your abilities._

"Okay, thanks. We're going to check things out firsthand now."_ Your observation provides the best evidence._

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

At the first mine, of course, it was abandoned. We were simply walking through the forest on what looked like a deer path when a cliff loomed up in front of us, and in its face a tunnel with the rickety sign of the company name creaking in the wind.

The torches Natsu lit for us flickered ominously inside the tunnel, bouncing our shadows off the walls. We continued on until we reached a splitting point where the tunnel widened to the the size of a small room with four smaller ones branching off of it in what seemed like different directions.

"We should split up. It'll be more efficient," recommended Lector. **(A/N: Explanation at bottom)**

I shot it down immediately, "Absolutely not. Haven't you read any books? If we split up this is where the bad guys get us." I added, after a moment of thought, "Is it just me, or do all four of these tunnels look, sound, and smell exactly the same?"

"Yeah, it's weird," confirmed Natsu.

"Not just weird," Sting said, "but it's physically impossible for them to sound exactly the same, from where we're standing in relation to their position unless they are exactly... the... same." Our mind said one thing, but our senses told us another.

And that was only the start of it. The second mine had rails for the minecarts, shiny, new, otherwise normal, except they'd randomly disappear and reappear at different points behind us. If it weren't for Sense Link and the Slayers' sense of smell, we would have still been lost. The third was dubbed the Whistling Snake Pit of Infinite Doom. If you don't think snakes can whistle, well, trust, me, almost anything will when flying at over 300 mph at your face when you're literally on the edge of infinite doom.

In the fourth mine, for once, it didn't give off a frightening aura. Regular rails for minecarts, a pickaxe here, a hard hat there; it was normal-until I tripped over a lever on the rails. I got up, dusting myself off, on edge for something, anything to happen. If I hadn't been so wary, I doubt I would have dodged the mine cart that came careening around the corner so fast it jumped the tracks, straight at my face.

Yanked out by Rogue , the cart slammed into the tunnel wall, shattered by shock waves and sending fissures sprouting across the rock. One of us shouted, noticing it, and we all fled as the tunnel crumbled rapidly behind us. Safe outside, I panted, breathless from the shock and adrenalin, even though I had been nowhere near my top speed.

"Definitely not natural," I said, as we walked, trying to catch Rogue's eye. Wasn't he the one who wasn't really interested, never made a fool of himself, pretty much ignored me until now?

My speculation was cut off by a sense of foreboding slamming into all of us that alerted us to the vicinity of the fifth, and last, mine. Whatever killing instinct had been absent at the fourth was now returned sevenfold as we struggled through what seemed like honey.

Stepping into the cave-like aperture, the difference was instantaneous.

_Drip, drip, drip._

All of the others had never shown a sign of moisture, especially surprising considering the whole "island = surrounded by water" aspect.

We went on, cautiously following the source until rounding a corner, throwing into sharp relief a thick slab of stone blocking the passageway. On it was depicted, surprisingly realistically, the head - and only the head - of Mr. Frapoly, covering the entire surface in blood, dripping down to a dark red-brown puddle thoroughly seeping through the crumbled rock.

"They used a lot of blood," Erza observed, finally breaking the stunned silence.

"I'd..." I cleared my throat, trying again, " I'd estimate at least more than ten pints, which is about how much there is in the average adult. Based on the color and viscosity, it can't be more than a few days old."

"Let's get outside," suggested Gray shakily, indicating Natsu's dark face with a jerk of his chin, and we left, much less composed than when we'd first started off.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

In the library of the mansion, we combined our information to map out the tunnels in red. The four identical, yet not, tunnels in the first mine. The maze of rails in the second. The snake pits in the third. The demon-possessed minecarts in the fourth, and of course the grisly mural on the stone in the fifth. The pen in my hand paused there; I closed my eyes, recalling the twisted echo of drips, drawing out the direction I thought it was headed, and surprised as one of the boys' hand wrapped around mine and corrected me, but even more surprised at the blue X where my pen now rested.

Back when we'd first acquired the map, one of the questions had concerned abandoned mines, and we had marked them in blue, and it was on one of these that my pen now marked. Realization dawned as I extended the other tunnels, bleeding strands knotting together at the now-purple center, what was obviously a base, perhaps the base, of the saboteurs.

**!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!**

I read in the library, or tried to. Rogue and Sting were the only ones with any semblance of calm, with everyone else moving, getting up, pacing, back and forth, sit , fidget, up again. We had, in the end, acquiesced to Mr. Frapoly's request that we to stick to our job of finding someone and leave his miners to take back the mines for themselves, he being the supervisor. However, it only increased our anxiety as the hours ticked past. I was reading everything and anything to do with Booler to try and pass the time as well as using it as a circuitous form of research. My current book covered the geography of the area, and as I observed a detailed map of ley lines, I realized it reminded me of something. It was the shape of it, where three lines crossed, branching out like a five-pointed star...

I ran to the map and slammed the book down, tracing the lines. Just as I had thought, the lines matched, roughly. It was too much of a similarity, along with the complete _off_-ness that saturated the mines, to be a coincidence. "Everyone, take a look," I called.

"Trap?" guessed Erza.

"Probably," I replied.

"So we get to say 'I told you so' ?" grinned Gajeel.

"Definitely."

"Hit 'em while they're looking out for an army?" asked Sting.

I laughed, "You mean we aren't?"

We smiled, then, in the sun-flooded library surrounded by paper and wood, away from blood, dripping and sliding off freezing stone, and we ran, through the forest, almost playing, even as tension increased in the air, and we came to the ragged, chipped quarry, it wasn't until, at last, the rusted pulley gave way and we hurtled closer to the center of the earth, that I realized, the trap hadn't been for them, but us.

**A/N: Earlier note: Lector is still alive 'cuz Zeref's announcement was made before he got killed; Sting and Rogue were given the chance to prove themselves by winning Lucy, so it's a little extra important to them. Also, the idea of GaLe has been put into Gajeel's brain; I really only made him participate to imply Gale, not that there's been any GaLu supporters.**

**Thank you, readers, reviewers, followers! Thoughts?**


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